Angela Roberts studies SuperAgers, over-80s whose memory matches that of people in their 50s
The Canada Research Chair says purpose and social life matter as much as biology, and that health care and clinical trials need to include people over 80.
Angela Roberts, PhD’14, is a principal investigator on the SuperAging Research Initiative and Canada Research Chair in Data Analytics and Digital Health in Cognitive Aging and Dementia. She is a professor in Western’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders and in computer science. SuperAgers are adults 80 and older whose memory and communication abilities remain as strong as they were at 50.
Biology and DNA play a part, she says, but a meaningful life after 80 is also about attitude. Her examples include a retired machinist with no high school education who started a philosophy circle, schoolteachers who now lead women’s health classes, and people still working as computer science programmers.
She notes that health standards are built for people younger than 80, and that drug and intervention trials often exclude people 80 and older. She hopes the project will change how health systems view older adults. Of the SuperAgers, she says, “These people have changed my life.”
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