Description
For more than 30 years, the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study has followed the same 20,000 Americans as they grow older, building the country's most complete picture of how we age.
Run by U-M's Institute for Social Research, the study brings economists, physicians and geneticists together around the same lives, tracking everything from work and savings to memory, blood and DNA. Its data shapes how the nation understands dementia, retirement and long-term care, and it has become the model for more than 40 similar studies around the world.
In this video, the study's leaders explain what makes it possible, what it is teaching us about aging, and why this kind of work can only happen at a place like ISR.
Featuring:
Jessica Faul, co-director, Health and Retirement Study
Kenneth Langa, co-director, Health and Retirement Study
Kate Cagney, director, U-M Institute for Social Research
Produced by Eric Shaw in the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research.
Learn more:
Michigan Research: https://research.umich.edu/news-and-issues/michigan-research-july-2026/
Health and Retirement Study: https://hrs.isr.umich.edu
U-M Institute for Social Research: https://isr.umich.edu
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