The University of Alabama at Birmingham and Protective Life Corp. have partnered to advance the science of healthy aging. Protective Life has invested $1.5 million to create the Protective Life Endowed Chair in Health Aging Research. Steven Austad, Ph.D., has been named the inaugural chair, enabling him to build upon his legacy to establish Birmingham as a global epicenter for healthy aging research.
“Dr. Austad is an international trailblazer in the science of aging, and we are thrilled to see him named as the inaugural Protective Life Endowed Chair in Health Aging Research at UAB,” said Rich Bielen, president and CEO of Protective. “At Protective, we are proud to be able to play a role in advancing healthy aging research, which will ultimately help people live longer, healthier lives and have a significant impact on our industry.”
Austad will lead a collaborative team of researchers in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, School of Public Health, School of Health Professions and others on interdisciplinary research to better understand the aging process as it relates to morbidity and mortality, prepare our society for future demographic shifts and invest in people’s well-being.
Austad currently serves as the chair of the UAB Department of Biology, senior scientific director of the American Federation for Aging Research and co-director of the UAB Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging.