Old Red Ashbel Smith building on UTMB Health campus

The Sealy Center on Aging at UTMBLeading Aging Research Since 1995

Welcome

The Sealy Center on Aging (SCOA), an independent, multidisciplinary component of The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB Health),  focuses on improving the health and well-being of older adults through interdisciplinary research, education, clinical care, and community engagement. Supported by endowment funds from the Sealy and Smith Foundation, SCOA encompasses over 50 Senior Fellows and more than 50 affiliated Fellows from all five UTMB schools as well as numerous institutes.

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Sealy Center on Aging (SCOA)
301 University Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77555-0177
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Phone: (409) 747-0008
Email: aging.research@utmb.edu

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News from the Sealy Center on Aging

Wong_Rebecca

Dr. Wong Appointed as the Sheridan Lorenz Distinguished Professor in Aging and Health

Jul 5, 2022, 16:10 PM by SCOA

Rebeca Wong, PhD, has been appointed as the Sheridan Lorenz Distinguished Professor in Aging and Health in the School of Public and Population Health through June 2025. Dr. Wong is a Professor in the School of Public and Population Health; Director of the WHO/ PAHO Collaborating Center on Aging and Health; and Associate Director of the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center as well as the Sealy Center on Aging. She is the former Peaches & Shrub Kempner Distinguished Professor in Health Disparities in the School of Medicine.

Dr. Wong is a Mexican scholar, PhD economist; her research interests include old-age consequences of life course decisions and risk factors; mortality and old-age health consequences of Mexico- US migration; cross-national comparisons of trajectories of cognitive and physical function; and impact of health care reform for the aging. Her research has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging for more than 25 years. She is best known for leading the 20-year longitudinal cohort entitled, "The Mexican Health and Aging Study" using a national sample of Mexicans in rural and urban areas. 

In addition, Dr. Wong serves as Principal Investigator of a training grant funded by NIA, ‘Health of Older Minorities’, and she has mentored numerous junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, PhD students, and master’s and undergraduate students. She has served on National Academy of Sciences committees and currently serves on several NIH committees, including as a member of the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Services for Researchers

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The Sealy Center on Aging brings together faculty across all five UTMB schools who specialize in aging-related research, education, and clinical care.

SCOA provides infrastructure and resources to foster collaborative translational research, support externally funded projects, and promote education and community outreach. SCOA supports its Core Investigators with office space, editorial services, pilot funding, research infrastructure, and administrative assistance.

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