The UTMB Pepper Center hosted its external advisory board on March 31, 2022, with members Karen Bandeen-Roche, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Thomas M. Gill, MD, Yale School of Medicine (via Zoom), and Stephen Kritchevsky, PhD, Wake Forest University Health Sciences (via Zoom). The agenda included a welcome from UTMB leaders, and an introduction from Pepper Center Director Elena Volpi, MD, PhD with Co-director Rebeca Wong, PhD. An open discussion for future plans was held prior to drafting a final report.

Current UTMB Pepper Center scholars gave presentations:

• Erin L. Hommel, MD – Mentors: E. Volpi, J. Goodwin, P. Cram, G. Sharma - Implementation science; Hip Fracture; Osteoporosis; Malnutrition; eHealth 
• Neil K. Mehta, PhD, MSc – Mentor: R. Wong - Leverage large-scale health surveys and census data to identify life-course social and determinants of health and mortality at older ages 
• Sadaf A. Milani, PhD – Mentors: R. Wong, K. Markides, A. Berenson - Intersection of gender, aging, pain, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias 
• Andrew J. Murton, PhD – Mentor: B. Rasmussen - Sarcopenia; Muscle protein turnover, Muscle glucose uptake; Obesity-induced anabolic resistance; Stable isotopes in the study of in vivo metabolism 
• Huiwen Xu, PhD – Mentor: J. Goodwin - Cancer rehabilitation in nursing homes; Quality, policy, and disparities in long-term care