USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH)

The USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH) is one of 14 centers in the Demography and Economics of Aging Centers Program and has been sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) as a joint center combining epidemiological and demographic expertise for over 15 years. The overarching goal of the Center is to enhance understanding of biological and other processes that contribute to population health at older ages and thereby contribute to more effective program and policy efforts to improve health and reduce health disparities. The Center represents a unique and highly successful collaboration between the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California (USC) and the Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology in the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), each of which focuses on research and teaching on aging. Since its inception in 1999, the CBPH has leveraged the unique combination of demographic and epidemiological expertise of the Center directors, along with the interdisciplinary expertise of Center faculty affiliates, to become a leader in the development of the field of biodemography.  The Center is at the forefront of efforts to promote theory-based integration of biological measurement into population-based studies and on-going development and validation of biological measurement protocols. 

CBPH is dedicated to providing a synergistic research environment for the integration and translation of research findings from a variety of disciplines to understand population health. The Center takes a multidisciplinary approach by linking demographers, biologists, economists, psychologists, epidemiologists, health policy specialists, medical researchers and clinical geriatricians. This integration of biological, epidemiologic and medical risk information which characterizes Center research is fundamental to understanding and projecting demographic trends and differences in population health.

The CBPH aims:

  • To support pilot projects and on-going bio-demographic research that integrate epidemiological, medical, and biological information with the demographic perspective on population health.
  • To train students in research methods and host workshops related to the biodemography of aging.
  • To develop models of population health outcomes that will clarify the effects of changes in risk factors and interventions on population health.
  • To disseminate results of Center work and integrate work from a network of related researchers and policy makers.

For more information, please visit the USC/UCLA CBPH website.

Last updated
January 5, 2024