UAlbany’s Center for Healthy Aging Appoints New Director

By Erin Frick

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 27, 2026) — Associate Professor Allison Appleton, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, has been named director of the University at Albany’s Center for Healthy Aging. Launched in 2024 under the leadership of Professor Victoria Rizzo, the Center for Healthy Aging brings together UAlbany faculty, researchers, students and community partners to advance innovative research, workforce development and community collaborations aimed at promoting healthy aging and longevity. 

Based at UAlbany’s College of Integrated Health Sciences, Appleton is a life course epidemiologist who studies how exposures and experiences at different stages of life shape health in later years. Her work examines the biological pathways through which adversity becomes embedded in the body and influences health across the life course. By integrating social and biological perspectives, Appleton’s work explores how health risks develop and accumulate, and how lived experience and biology together shape long-term health outcomes and aging trajectories.

We caught up with Appleton to learn about her current research, her goals for the Center for Healthy Aging and where, in the broader field of aging research, she sees the most promise.

What is the main thrust of your current research? 

Much of my research focuses on the early-life determinants of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide and the most common chronic condition in midlife. Although cardiovascular disease is often viewed as an adult disease, it is a progressive process that begins much earlier in life, with biological markers emerging in childhood and behavioral risks accumulating over time. My work has shown that adverse childhood experiences including abuse, victimization and socioeconomic deprivation before age 18, are associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk decades later.

I also examine the intersection of adversity, cardiovascular health and aging in the context of HIV. As people with HIV are living longer due to effective antiretroviral therapies, my research investigates how early life social adversity influences cardiovascular outcomes and mortality in this population. Another central theme of my work is identifying the biological and molecular pathways linking adversity to later outcomes, with expertise in epigenetic aging, DNA methylation and systemic inflammation.

I think about aging as a lifelong process. The foundations for healthy aging and aging inequities begin early in life. We have many opportunities across the life span for prevention and intervention to modify risk trajectories and promote healthy aging for all.

Why is it important to advance research on healthy aging?

Our population is aging rapidly. By 2040, 80 million people in the U.S. will be aged 65+, and New York has the fourth-largest population of older adults in the country. These demographic shifts will substantially increase the prevalence of chronic disease, cognitive impairment and functional limitations, increase caregiver strain, and increase costs and demand on healthcare and social systems. Research on healthy aging is essential in this moment.

Research identifies the biologic underpinnings of the aging process, modifiable risk and protective factors across the life span, shines a light on aging inequities, and informs innovative, effective and scalable approaches to care. This work is key to ensuring that longer lives are healthy and enriching for all, and that families are well supported as their loved ones age.

The Center is also focused on aging workforce development and facilitating aging education and training opportunities for UAlbany students to meet the ever-growing workforce demand in aging fields.

What’s new at the center? 

As a new center, a priority this year has been raising visibility of aging work at UAlbany and building collaborations. This year, we launched the “AgeWell” speaker series, a monthly event featuring UAlbany and external experts presenting innovative aging research in a setting designed to encourage networking and interdisciplinary exchange. The series featured discussions of the immunology of influenza, intervention work on intermittent fasting, age tech in palliative care and ageism. The series is open to the public and will continue next year.

The center also hosted its first “Research-Connect” event in collaboration with the AI Plus Institute and the Institute for Social and Health Equity. The event — “Healthy Aging Futures in the Age of AI” — brought together UAlbany researchers working at the intersection of aging and AI across several disciplines. Open to the UAlbany community, further Research-Connect events are already planned for next year.

Additional new initiatives are in development, including seed grant and affiliate programs for faculty, and new aging-related research opportunities, coursework and training programs for students.

What’s in store for the center in the coming years?

I am excited to build teams and lead new interdisciplinary collaborations. We learn so much, and the impact of our work is greater, when we listen to colleagues and community partners with expertise and perspectives different from our own. As we build those teams, there are many ways we can grow as a center. Here are a few examples:

Artificial intelligence and the use of technology are major areas of emphasis in aging care and research today. Two new center projects in this space include implementation and evaluation of a patient-centered digital health platform to support Parkinson’s Disease care in rural areas, and a voice-enabled AI supportive care platform to help families make decisions at the end of life. Project teams include expertise from geriatric medicine, social welfare, public health and industry. We envision these projects will provide age-tech research training opportunities for students.

New York State recently released its Master Plan for Aging, which is a statewide, long-term framework to guide New York in preparing for and supporting its growing older adult population. We would like to engage with policymakers, agencies and programs to address priority areas in the Plan such as caregiving, age-friendly communities, health equity and supportive services. The Center for Healthy Aging and UAlbany’s aging researchers are well positioned to help translate Master Plan priorities into pilot programs, research projects and scalable interventions that improve aging outcomes across New York State.

What are you most excited about in the field? 

There is a lot of innovation and excitement around harnessing the power of AI and technology to promote healthy aging for all. For example, AI tools that can support earlier disease detection, and AI companion robots designed to reduce loneliness and provide cognitive stimulation and social connection for older adults. We’re also seeing rapid expansion of digital health, telehealth and remote patient monitoring which enable care delivery outside traditional clinical settings.

These age-tech innovations are exciting because it means we have many new tools to help people live healthier lives and live independently and comfortably in their own homes and communities as they grow older — potentially avoiding or delaying institutional care. These tools also have the potential to reduce caregiver strain by supporting decision-making and reducing work around coordinating care and patient monitoring.

What is a challenge in the aging field that you would like to change? 

One challenge is that many research funding opportunities remain siloed by discipline, even though aging is inherently interdisciplinary. This fragmentation can slow the translation of research findings into real-world impact. Some of the most promising work to improve health and quality of life for older adults is focused on bridging these disciplinary divides.

The Center for Healthy Aging was launched with a clear commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and research translation at its core. We will continue to advance these priorities to help lead this shift and position UAlbany at the forefront of what must be an integrated and translational approach to aging research.