This year’s conference, hosted by the and the Kentucky Association of Gerontology, follows the theme “Aging Inspired. Aging Reinvigorated,” and emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to the aging experience that includes advances in medical research, lifestyle and culinary medicine, trauma-informed care and more.

“Participants in this year’s Optimal Aging Conference will have the opportunity to hear from esteemed experts in various fields, including octogenarians, speaking to the many opportunities we all have to age well,” said Anna Faul, executive director of the Trager Institute. “Although the pandemic has been challenging, those working in the field of aging and older adults themselves are inspired to continue to create opportunities for change, innovation and implementation of models of care that will reinvigorate the aging field.”

This multi-day event will feature two preconference speakers, five keynote speakers, more than 30 breakout and poster sessions and opportunities to network and earn continuing education credits.

2022 Optimal Aging Conference keynote addresses:

• Aging inspired. Aging reinvigorated: Panel honoring octogenarians; facilitated by Sandy Markwood, MUP, CEO, USAging. Honorees: Mattie Jones, Marie Clay, Marie Vessels, State Representative Tom Burch, Father Jim Flynn
• Alzheimer’s update; Gregory Jicha, MD, PhD, director, UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging
• Culinary medicine: Hungry for change; Robert Graham, MD, MPH, ABOIM, FACP, chef and co-founder, FRESH Medicine
• Aging as an opportunity; Robert Friedland, MD, professor, UofL Department of Neurology
• Integrating lifestyle medicine into standard medical practice, Dexter Shurney, MD, vice president. and chief medical officer of Adventist Health and Blue Zones Institute

In addition to the keynote presentations, experts in breakout and poster sessions will discuss such topics as creative interventions for social isolation, trauma-informed care, acupuncture as an evidence-based therapy for addressing stress and burnout, age-friendly cities and communities and coding for seniors.

Participants who attend the preconference on Sunday, April 24 may attend a full-day session from Anthony Watkins on assessing and managing suicide or a half-day session with Claude Drouet on addressing the complexities in social work ethics. Participants can also register for a free webinar by Teepa Snow, an occupational therapist who specializes in dementia care and dementia education, on April 24 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The discussion will focus on how to cope when one is the sole caregiver.

“The Optimal Aging Conference has its origins more than four decades ago in the Kentucky Association for Gerontology Conference, an event for everyone who cared about issues related to aging in our communities including professionals from all disciplines as well as students, older adults and caregivers,” said Barbara Gordon, Trager Institute’s director of community engagement. “The Trager Institute continues that tradition with its conference this year making sure that a diverse and inclusive group of individuals are not only participating but also presenting at the conference.” 

Last year, the conference moved to a virtual platform in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and will again be held virtually this year. Register .

Jill Preminger, PhD, director of the Program in Audiology at UofL, is co-chair of the , July 27-28 on UofL’s Health Sciences Center campus. It will be the first such meeting outside Europe.

The first two meetings were organized by Swedish researchers, Gerhard Andersson, PhD, and Thomas Lunner, PhD, in 2014 at Linköping University in Sweden and in 2015 in Denmark. Preminger presented talks at both conferences and was asked to co-chair the first one to be held in the U.S. Ariane Laplante-Lévesque, PhD, of Eriksholm Research Centre in Denmark and Linköping University in Sweden, also is an event co-chair.

“I attended the first meeting because I was beginning to conduct research in which I hoped to develop an internet-based rehabilitation program for adults with hearing loss,” Preminger said. “At the second meeting, Dr. Lunner asked if I would be interested in hosting the next meeting. They wanted to bring the meeting to the United States in order to open it up to a new audience.”

Research audiologists, engineers, clinical audiologists and student researchers are expected at this year’s event from the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Africa and Asia. Consistent with the event’s focus, five presentations and more than half of the 84 attendees will participate from remote locations via internet connections.

Conference sessions will address four themes: Barriers and facilitators to telepractice, ethical issues related to internet-based research and services, big data, and methods for research and service delivery.

Elizabeth Buchanan, PhD, director of the Center for Applied Ethics at the University of Wisconsin – Stout, will give a keynote address on “Ethical Issues related to internet-based research and service delivery.” Internet-based programs to collect data and to provide clinical service can reach many more individuals, but new programs must consider the ethical issues that may arise. Buchanan will discuss whether it truly is possible to get informed consent for internet-based research or clinical service, and how to protect the privacy of participants and patients in online discussions.

Harvey Dillon, PhD, director of the National Acoustics Laboratory in Australia, will deliver a keynote via remote broadcast on the “Potential of Large Scale Data in Hearing Rehabilitation.” With the internet it now is possible to collect “Big Data,” from participants across a country or around the world. Dillon will address concerns about ethical and legal issues related to collecting data across countries as well as exciting possibilities for very large datasets that will allow for better decisions about the effectiveness of treatments across diverse populations.

The conference is sponsored by the Oticon Foundation and through a NIH (NIDCD) Conference Grant (1R13DC016547-01). Oticon Inc., creates hearing aids, cochlear implants, other implantable hearing devices and diagnostic equipment related to audiology.

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