Geroscience is a research field that seeks to understand the relationship between aging and age-related diseases and how it affects quality of life.
Alliance for Aging Research Founder Dan Perry Retires from Organization
Published March 19, 2015
Washington, D.C., March 19, 2015 – The founder of the nonprofit Alliance for Aging Research, Dan Perry, retired today from the organization. Perry founded the Alliance in 1986 and served as its president and CEO until 2014 when Sue Peschin, MHS, assumed the role. Perry will be nominated for the Alliance’s Board of Directors on March 20.
During Perry’s tenure, the Alliance became a force for promoting the science of aging and health, advocating for public policies to foster aging research and higher quality of life for older Americans, and creating health education campaigns on conditions and topics affecting the senior population. Perry started the Alliance in response to a growing awareness among policymakers and health experts that the aging of the U.S. population would pose an unsustainable demand for health care resources.
“By the mid-1980s it was clear there needed to be a stronger voice for medical science to improve lives among America’s rapidly aging population,” Perry says. “It has been a gift to be able to help bring this organization forward and to know its best days and contributions still lie ahead.”
In addition to creating the Alliance and leading its growth, Perry spearheaded a number of large and effective coalitions advancing medical research in aging, Alzheimer’s disease, physical frailty, and to defend ethical use of human embryonic stem cells in research. In 2010 he was appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to the National Advisory Council on Aging. He also currently serves as an adviser to the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Roybal Center for Health Policy Simulation at the University of Southern California.
“Dan Perry’s role has been transformative. He has been the essential personality who has made our nation realize that the field of aging research and the effective management of aging and its associated diseases and conditions are key for the success of our society,” says Allan M. Fox, J.D., LLM, managing partner at FOXKISER and national chairman of the Alliance’s Board.
Throughout his career, Perry has garnered the respect of colleagues both on Capitol Hill and in the private sector for his positive impact on the field of aging research and other issues of importance to older Americans. This includes: increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health and primary federal health agencies; protecting Medicare coverage for novel interventions targeting age-related conditions; helping protect researchers seeking therapies from human embryonic stem cells; and working for greater medical training in geriatrics.
“Dan Perry is one of the greatest unsung visionaries of our time. Generations to come will look back on us and know that there was at least one person among us who could see into the future and bring it closer: Dan Perry,” says Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL).
Perry’s career began as a journalist, during which time he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Following his journalism career, he moved on to staff positions on Capitol Hill, including serving 13 years as a special assistant to former senator and Democratic whip Alan Cranston (D-CA).
“Dan Perry has been at the forefront of the biggest achievements in aging research funding and acceleration over these last three decades, and all of us have better lives today because of it. It is an honor and a privilege to succeed him,” says Peschin.
For more information, please contact Noel Lloyd, communications manager, at 202.370.7852 or through email.
About the Alliance for Aging Research
The Alliance for Aging Research is the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the pace of scientific discoveries and their application in order to vastly improve the universal human experience of aging and health. The Alliance was founded in 1986 in Washington, D.C., and has since become a valued advocacy organization and a respected influential voice with policymakers. Visit www.agingresearch.org for more information.
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