Two research networks funded by the National Institutes of Health are requesting proposals for projects that utilize large scale cohort studies to examine psychological predictors and correlates of health and aging. The Network for Emotional Well-being: Science, Practice, and Measurement, a collaborative project between UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Harvard, in partnership with the NIA-funded Stress Measurement Network, will support several projects via grant funding of up to $15,000 per project.

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) 5-day virtual Institute in Survey Research Techniques Workshop is intended to give participants an introduction to the study that will enable them to use the data for research. HRS is a large-scale longitudinal study with more than 20 years of data on the labor force participation and health transitions that individuals undergo toward the end of their work lives and in the years that follow. The data training portion of the training assumes some familiarity with SAS or STATA. Visit the event website for more information and to register. The cost of the 5-day course is $550. 

Drs. Alexandra Crosswell and Elissa Epel of the Stress Measurement Network leadership team have partnered with Dr. Jinkook Lee, PI of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) study, to recruit dementia caregivers into the LASI study. Launching in June 2021, family caregivers of dementia participants will complete cognitive and psychosocial measures capturing the duration, intensity, and psychological impact of their caregiving. There are also numerous items that were chosen to overlap with items from the National Study of Caregiving, allowing for the potential of cross-cultural comparison. Here you can find the description of the survey battery developed (and reasoning for the item selection). For questions or to collaborate on analyses, please email Alexandra.Crosswell@ucsf.edu.

The Stress Measurement Network at the University of California, San Francisco seeks a postdoctoral scholar to contribute to ongoing research in stress science. 

Network leadership Drs. Alexandra Crosswell and Kimberly Lockwood have published a paper on the best practices for stress measurement. 

The Stress Measurement Network stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and so many other Black lives that have been taken by police violence. We also recognize that their deaths are a part of a system of long-standing structural and institutional racism, supported by hundreds of years of white supremacy in the United States. The injustice, inequality, and pain experienced by Black individuals are at the root of the stark racial disparities in health and well-being in America. Racism in all of its many, toxic forms is built so deeply into our nation’s history and culture that it is often invisible to those who benefit from it.

The National Institute on Environmental Sciences and National Institute of Aging have funded a new Telomere Measurement Network. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, we will support up to five projects that address scientific gaps in relation to telomere length as it applies to epidemiological research.  The projects can include secondary analyses of large samples (>300) that examine novel questions about the relation between TL and health and/or TL and exposure.