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UTHSC gerontologist to speak on Capitol Hill this week
(4-24-01)
A faculty member from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSC) will speak in the nation’s capital Friday at a congressional seminar on health promotion in older Americans.
Toni P. Miles, M.D., Ph.D., professor of family and community medicine at the Health Science Center, will discuss chronic disease and barriers to preventive care during the Living Longer, Staying Well: Promoting Good Health for Older Americans seminar Friday morning in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. The seminar addresses the fact that although Americans are living longer, a significant number of those age 65 and older face chronic health problems, disabilities and economic stress.
The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) invited Dr. Miles to speak, along with Frank Stafford, Ph.D., of The University of Michigan and Mark Hayward, Ph.D., of Pennsylvania State University.
“There is speculation, but little data, that unstable health care institutions and their policies pose a formidable barrier to the delivery of wellness programs to older minority adults,” Dr. Miles said. She will identify the points in these institutions where preventive care is obstructed for persons with chronic disease. By lowering these barriers, she contends, the nation can create cost-effective policies to promote wellness. Miles will present “Chronic Disease and the Policies that Bind.”
COSSA is an advocacy organization supported by more than 105 professional associations, scientific societies, universities and research institutes that promotes attention to and federal funding for the social, behavioral and economic sciences.
Contact: Will Sansom