The UConn Pepper Center is co-led by Dr. George Kuchel, director of the UConn Center on Aging (Professor, Travelers Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology) and Dr. Richard Fortinsky (Professor and Health Net, Inc. Endowed Chair in Geriatrics and Gerontology). UConn Center on Aging and colleagues at UConn Health, University of Connecticut and the Jackson Laboratory were selected in mid-2021 by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for a strong research program in aging and geriatrics involving a thriving multidisciplinary collective of basic scientists, clinical investigators, behavioral and social scientists, epidemiologists, and clinicians who bring collaborative translational expertise in cellular, genetic, population-based, and clinical sciences.
Our Mission
The mission of the UConn Pepper Center is to establish a thriving interdisciplinary research program to promote health, function and independence in old age. The UConn Pepper Center will provide numerous resources to catalyze the growth of multidisciplinary, collaborative aging-related researching ranging from basic and preclinical to clinical, and community-based to population based research in a sustained fashion. Our theme of Precision Gerontology seeks to leverage an understanding of the growing heterogeneity of aging into interventions rendered more effective by being better targeted.
Our Aims
The aims of the UConn Pepper Center are:
- To develop a strong understanding of the multiple facets of heterogeneity aging. With an extensive understanding, we’ll be able to develop targeted, precise and effective interventions to improve care provided to aging adults.
- To develop and collaborate with researchers from multidisciplinary teams in order to address questions or problems related to aging from the levels of bench to the bedside and institution to out in a community.
- To foster career development opportunities in an effort to train and collaborate with the next generation of leading geriatric researchers.