Vijeth Iyengar: Are Countries Longevity-Ready? Focus on Low and Middle Income Countries

Dr Vijeth Iyengar is the guest in this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox. Dr Iyengar is Director of Global Aging at the International Office of AARP – the American Association of Retired People. He leads cutting-edge research on global aging issues, including financial resilience, health security, the human rights of older persons, and their social connections, and cultivates relationships and strategic alliances to promote AARP’s vision to serve older adults everywhere.

A cognitive neuroscientist by training, before joining AARP, Vijeth served three US Government administrations in a variety of roles, including as Brain Health Lead and Technical Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging at the Administration for Community Living, as a Policy Advisor to the 4^th U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as co-lead coordinator of the Older Adult working group for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy People 2020/2030 initiative, and as lead author of the 2018-2022 U.S. country report for the Fourth Review and Appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. Additionally he completed a secondment at the Pan American Health Organization’s Mental Health and Substance Use Unit where he chronicled member-state progress towards indicators found in the 2015 Strategy and Plan of Action on Dementias in Older Persons.

Originally from Louisiana, Vijeth attended Cornell and Tulane Universities, and received his masters and doctoral degrees from Duke University. Among other recognitions, Dr. Iyengar was a Presidential Management Fellow, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and selected as a 2020 Aspen Ideas Festival Health Fellow. Amongst other contributions, he is a mentor for the Techstars Future of Longevity Accelerator.

Some Useful Links:

• The AARP International website is a rich resource for information and discussion of global ageing issues: https://www.aarpinternational.org

• Report: Achieving Equitable Healthy Aging in Low and Middle-Income Countries: The Aging Readiness and Competitiveness Report 4.0

• The Journal of AARP International: https://www.aarpinternational.org/the-journal

• AARP Report: Building Equity in Longevity

• AARP website: https://www.aarp.org

• TechStars Future of Longevity Accelerator Program