Scholar's Biographies

The list of below of International Longevity Center-USA (IlC-USA) staff and associates provides insight to the research capability and expertise of our organization. All researchers and experts are available to collaborate on ILC-USA conducted research and consultation; together they form a formidable core of aging and longevity experts.

Robert Butler, M.D. – President and CEO (medicine, geriatrics)

Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development, which he founded at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Physician, gerontologist, psychiatrist, public servant and Pulitzer-Prize winning author, Dr. Robert N. Butler has long been involved in a broad array of social and health issues. Perhaps best known for his advocacy of the medical and social needs and rights of older people and his research on healthy aging and the dementias. He was founding director of the National Institute on Aging at the NIH.

Everette E. Dennis, Ph.D – Executive Director and COO (communication and health education)

Dr. Dennis is an expert on the media. He is the author, co-author and editor of more than 40 books on media industries, technology, regulation and related topics, including editorial content. His work on New Media technologies has included the presidency of The Broadband Forum . Internationally, he led fact-finding missions to Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia and Latin America over a six year period. These resulted in three widely-cited monographs on the media economies of those regions.

Harrison Bloom, M.D. – Senior Associate (medicine, geriatrics, international health care)

Dr. Bloom was the Vice-Chairman for Clinical Affairs in the Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development at the Mount Sinai-New York University Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Bloom created the International Geriatric Clinical Education and Consultation Service at the ILC. Through this service he works with government and health care providers in developing countries to improve the geriatric care system.

Michael Gusmano, Ph.D – Co-Director of the World Cities Program (health policy, political science)

Co-Director of the World Cities Project, a joint venture of the International Longevity Center (ILC-USA), the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, and the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, where he is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management. He is a recipient of a 1995 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research Fellowship. At Columbia Dr. Gusmano teaches courses on health policy, comparative analysis of health systems, and long-term care policy. For more information on Dr. Gusmano, please visit his Web pages at Columbia.

Ken Knapp, Ph.D – Senior Research Analyst (economics)

Dr. Knapp is project manager of the Caregiving Project for Older Americans, a joint initiative of the ILC and the Schmieding Center for Senior Health and Education. Dr. Knapp has conducted research for the “Productive Engagement” initiative at the ILC, the main purpose of which is to discover ways to expand opportunities for paid work and to reduce unnecessary obstacles for the continued labor force participation of older people. Dr. Knapp has taught corporate finance, money and banking, statistics, urban economics, and other courses in economics at Brooklyn College and St. Francis College in Brooklyn.

Charlotte Muller, Ph.D – Director of Longevity Research (economics)

Dr. Muller is Professor Emerita at the Economics Doctoral Program, City University of New York and the Department of Community Medicine, MSSM. Her current work includes a study of older women in the labor force and the potential impact of the growth of older populations and consequent caregiving obligations on women’s economic progress and security.

S. Jay Olshansky, Ph.D. – Senior Associate (bio-demography)

Dr. Olshansky is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health and the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. The focus of his research to date has been on estimates of the upper limits to human longevity, exploring the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases.

Victor G. Rodwin, Ph.D. – Co-Director of the World Cities Program (health policy)

Director of the World Cities Project, a joint venture of the International Longevity Center (ILC-USA), the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University, where he is Professor of Health Policy and Management. He is a recipient of a 1999 Robert Wood Johnson Investigator Awards in Health Policy for his research project on "Health and Megacities: New York, London, Paris and Tokyo." At NYU Dr. Rodwin teaches courses on health policy, comparative analysis of health systems, and community health and medical care. For more information, visit Dr. Rodwin's Web pages at NYU.

Oleg Volkov, Ph.D. – Senior Research Associate (demography)

Dr Volkov has contributed to the “International Longevity Project”, Almanac Phases I-II-III, and other projects of the Center. His current work includes studies of i) incomes and expenses of older householders in 12 countries (USA, Canada, 10 European countries); ii) older women in the labor force and consequent caregiving obligations on women’s economic progress and financial security; and iii) managing the “ESOP” – Economic Status of Older Persons: An International Database Project embracing 57 countries worldwide (covering about three fourth of the world population).

Daniel Weisz, M.D. – Senior Research Associate (medicine)

Dr. Weisz is a Senior Research Associate with the World Cities Project. He serves as a project manager and policy analyst for the World Cities Project. Previously, he was a Fellow with Health Subcommittee, Ways and Means Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; an Attending Surgeon, Cardiothoracic Surgery; St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, NY and Assistant Clinical Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine; a Staff Surgeon, Cardiothoracic Surgery; Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY and Assistant Professor, Surgery at SUNY Stony Brook.