For professionals in the community The Collaboratory’s Cell₂Society Aging Research Network, led by Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, is comprised of scholars from a variety of disciplines, including biology, nursing, biomedical engineering, medicine, nutrition, rehabilitation science, creative arts therapy, computer science, architecture, sociology, and public health. Members are nationally and internationally recognized researchers engaging in scholarship from “cell to society.” Their wide-ranging expertise reflects the biology of aging, dementia care, sleep and chronobiology, symptom science, self-care strategies, exercise, nutrition, creative arts therapies to address psychosocial challenges of aging, family caregiving, intervention development, testing and translation, predictive multiscale modeling and health informatics, theragnostics, and supportive neighborhood environments.

The Cell₂Society Aging Research Network was selected as a 2019-2020 Drexel Area of Research Excellence (DARE) initiative. The DARE initiative, funded through the Office of the Provost, is focused on building distinctive interdisciplinary signatures across the University.

The Cell₂Society DARE, which officially launched September 1, 2019 embodies the spirit of Drexel’s “The Future is a Place We Make” campaign and creates a novel ecosystem for the pursuit of use-inspired aging research from which to inform the role of Drexel University in an aging society. The Cell₂Society DARE brings together 39 faculty, 16 students, and eight staff members, across ten schools at Drexel, along with over 30 external stakeholders interested in aging research from the cellular level to the society level. The inaugural members include:

Principal Investigator: Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili (CNHP)

Faculty Research Network Members: Joke Bradt (CNHP), Felice Elefant (CoAS), Eugenia Ellis (CoE), Girija Kaimal (CNHP), Peter Lewin (Biomed), Longjian Lui (DSPH), Clare Milner (CNHP), Kristine Mulhorn (CNHP), Michael Neidrauer (Biomed), Il-Yeol Song (CCI), Glenn Williams (CNHP), Stella Volpe (CNHP), Michael Weingarten (CoM)

Faculty Steering Committee Members: Katherine Clark (CNHP), Laura Gitlin (CNHP), Jana Hirsch (DSPH), Andres Kriete (Biomed), Don McEachron (Biomed), Jaya Mahan (Pennoni), Christian Sell (CoM), Elisabeth Van Bockstaele (CoM;Grad), Kathleen Fisher (CNHP)

Faculty Stakeholder Steering Committee Member: Loretta Sweet-Jemmot (CNHP)

Project Manager: Zachary Hathaway (CNHP)

Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, RN, CNSC, FASPEN, FAAN, FGSA

Senior Associate Dean for Research, Professor

Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions