Backgrounder: Grads Give $2.25 Million to UVic to Research Process of Aging
The new Harald Mohr MD and Wilhelma Mohr MD Chair in Adult Development and Aging is named for the parents of Erich Mohr who, along with his wife Shelley, donated $2.25 million to the University of Victoria to establish the chair in the Department of Psychology and the Centre on Aging.
The new research chair will lead the university’s participation in national and international research initiatives, including the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)—the first national study on the process of aging. Late next year, the CLSA will begin monitoring a cohort of 50,000 Canadians in their 40s and follow them through to retirement. Information will be collected on the impact of life changes (biological, medical, social, psychological and economic) on healthy living, or on the development of disease and disability.
The findings will inform new public policies on aging, particularly as baby boomers put their unique stamp on what it means to be retired (the number of Canadians between the ages of 65 to 74—to a total of 4.5 million— will nearly double over the next two decades).
UVic already has several key researchers involved in the CLSA, including Canada Research Chair in Social Gerontology Neena Chappell, a senior scientific advisor to the study. And, with strengths in gerontology and health, the university anticipates a greater role in collaborative research on the dynamics of aging.
The new chair will expand the research focus to the development process as we age, including in its study adults in their 40s and 50s. The chair and its program will be based in the Department of Psychology and linked to the UVic Centre on Aging and its multidisciplinary, community-based research on gerontology and healthy aging.
“We wanted the gift to recognize and benefit the people who had given their time to participate in clinical studies and research,” says Shelley Mohr, a clinical psychologist at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health. “I have a grandmother in a nursing home and I hope this research leads to better care for older people and better quality of life because care facilities can sometimes be very sad places.”
“The Mohrs’ funding means we will always have a senior chair to assure the continuity of our role in longitudinal studies,” says Peter Keller, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. “As our very senior scholar retires, we will be able to replace that individual with another advanced researcher with an international reputation. It’s ingenious. It’s exactly what UVic needed.”
< Back to ReleaseThe new research chair will lead the university’s participation in national and international research initiatives, including the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)—the first national study on the process of aging. Late next year, the CLSA will begin monitoring a cohort of 50,000 Canadians in their 40s and follow them through to retirement. Information will be collected on the impact of life changes (biological, medical, social, psychological and economic) on healthy living, or on the development of disease and disability.
The findings will inform new public policies on aging, particularly as baby boomers put their unique stamp on what it means to be retired (the number of Canadians between the ages of 65 to 74—to a total of 4.5 million— will nearly double over the next two decades).
UVic already has several key researchers involved in the CLSA, including Canada Research Chair in Social Gerontology Neena Chappell, a senior scientific advisor to the study. And, with strengths in gerontology and health, the university anticipates a greater role in collaborative research on the dynamics of aging.
The new chair will expand the research focus to the development process as we age, including in its study adults in their 40s and 50s. The chair and its program will be based in the Department of Psychology and linked to the UVic Centre on Aging and its multidisciplinary, community-based research on gerontology and healthy aging.
“We wanted the gift to recognize and benefit the people who had given their time to participate in clinical studies and research,” says Shelley Mohr, a clinical psychologist at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health. “I have a grandmother in a nursing home and I hope this research leads to better care for older people and better quality of life because care facilities can sometimes be very sad places.”
“The Mohrs’ funding means we will always have a senior chair to assure the continuity of our role in longitudinal studies,” says Peter Keller, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences. “As our very senior scholar retires, we will be able to replace that individual with another advanced researcher with an international reputation. It’s ingenious. It’s exactly what UVic needed.”