BOSTON  – Solarea Bio, a biotechnology company in Cambridge, Mass., and leading researchers at Harvard Medical School affiliated Hebrew SeniorLife, New England’s largest nonprofit provider of senior health care and living communities, are co-investigators on a competitive research grant from the U.S. National Academy of Medicine’s Healthy Longevity Initiative.

Solarea Bio, along with Douglas P. Kiel, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Musculoskeletal Research Center, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, and Shivani Sahni, Ph.D., Director, Nutrition Program, Marcus Institute, received the grant.

According to the researchers, “An aging population has led to a significant global increase in age-related diseases including cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s, and others. At the core of this is chronic low-grade inflammation known as inflammaging, and recent evidence describes the gut microbiome as a key regulator of the inflammaging process through direct impact on immune system development and function.” 

However, while the impact bacteria have on the immune system and human health is well described, fungi, a major component of the gut microbiome, have been largely overlooked due to multiple factors including fungi’s large, complex genomes that require deep sequencing and a hybrid assembly, lack of fungal genome databases for functional gene prediction, and underdeveloped bioinformatic tools to identify fungal metabolites important to human health. 

The researchers hypothesize that the “mycobiome” (the collection of fungi that are part of the overall microbiome) could offer a large, untapped reservoir of probiotic fungi with the ability to combat inflammaging. Based on this hypothesis, the team will be working to sequence a subset of a large fungal collection and develop bioinformatic tools to identify fungi with probiotic potential. Lead candidate fungi will be tested using in vitro cell culture systems to identify fungi with anti-inflammatory properties that may then be further tested clinically. 

About the Healthy Longevity Initiative
The Healthy Longevity Initiative is designed to kick start innovation to support healthy longevity through a series of monetary awards and prizes. In the tradition of international races to fly across the Atlantic or walk on the moon, the initiative will rally the world’s greatest minds to achieve what may at first seem an impossible goal.

About the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Scientists at the Boston-based Marcus Institute seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity, and productivity into advanced age. The Marcus Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment, and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 3,000 seniors a day across six campuses throughout Greater Boston. Our locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline, Brookline; and Jack Satter House, Revere. Founded in 1903, Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $63 million, making it the largest gerontological research facility in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 1,000 geriatric care providers each year. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit https://www.hebrewseniorlife.org or follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Solarea Bio
Solarea Bio is a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Mass. developing new microbiome-based solutions to some of the world's largest health problems. Solarea was founded in 2017 by a group of scientists and entrepreneurs eager to radically alter our understanding of the human microbiome and utilize its power to improve human health. Solarea's breakthrough came from the combined efforts of the company's co-founders who established a link between the discovery of an untapped source of microorganisms with probiotic potential in healthy foods, and their applications in inflammatory processes including the gut-musculoskeletal axis. 

BOSTON – Sports legends will gather and celebrate aging at Hebrew SeniorLife’s signature event, EngAGE 2019, at Fenway Park on Wednesday, November 13.

The all-star lineup includes Jim Lonborg, Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer, and later, dentist; Chris Evert, retired World #1 American tennis legend, coach, analyst, and commentator;  Sugar Ray Leonard, boxing icon, Olympic Gold medalist, philanthropist, and best-selling author; and Sean McDonough, ESPN and Boston Red Sox broadcaster.

Boston-based Hebrew SeniorLife (HSL), an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. HSL has hosted the successful EngAGE forum for six years. In announcing the EngAGE 2019 lineup, Lou Woolf, HSL President and CEO, said, “Boston is an incredible sports town as well as a wonderful community to celebrate aging. In fact, the same year the Red Sox won the very first World Series in 1903, HSL began taking care of older adults in its first location in Dorchester.

“We are honored to have these sports icons celebrate aging with HSL at historic Fenway Park. Time and time again, they have re-imagined their wheelhouse to serve their passions. We look forward to hearing their stories and plans for the future.” 

Tickets are selling quickly for EngAGE 2019, which features a mixed-media program, a panel, and intimate dinner parties. All proceeds power Hebrew SeniorLife’s health care, communities, research, and teaching that transform the experience of aging. Last year’s event raised $1.3 million.

The chairs for EngAGE 2019 are Jennifer and Jeffrey Drucker and Hinda and Arthur Marcus, all of Chestnut Hill (MA). For more information about EngAGE, visit www.hslengage.org.

About Hebrew SeniorLife

Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Founded in Boston in 1903, the nonprofit, non-sectarian organization today provides communities and health care for seniors, research into aging, and education for geriatric care providers. In 2018, Hebrew SeniorLife was again named a “Top Place to Work” by the Boston Globe. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit http://www.hebrewseniorlife.org, follow us on Twitter @H_SeniorLife, like us on Facebook, or read our blog.

Boston, MA - Hebrew SeniorLife, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated, integrated system of health care, senior living, research, and teaching that serves more than 3,000 Greater Boston seniors each day, announces the appointment of Steve Landers M.D., MPH as its new president & chief executive officer.

Dr. Landers comes to Hebrew SeniorLife from Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group, Inc., one of the oldest, largest, and most respected home health, hospice, and community health organizations in the country, where he has served since 2012 as president and chief executive officer. He is a practicing physician, certified in family medicine, geriatric medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine and also holds an appointment as clinical associate professor of family medicine and community health at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Prior to joining VNA Health Group, he served as a staff physician and administrative leader at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Landers is a recognized leader and innovator in home health, primary care, and aging services, and has authored many articles and has been an outspoken advocate for nursing, the front-line workforce, and improving care for older Americans.

Dr. Landers will join Hebrew SeniorLife in July 2023, succeeding Louis J. Woolf, who is retiring after leading the prestigious organization for the past 14 years.

“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Steve Landers as the new president and CEO of Hebrew SeniorLife,” said Hebrew SeniorLife Board Chair Melissa Tearney. “The outstanding depth of his experiences and accomplishments as a leader within a variety of nonprofit and academic health care settings makes him the ideal person to lead Hebrew SeniorLife in its mission to empower seniors to live their best lives.”

“I treasure every day I had the chance to be a part of the compassionate and mission-driven team at VNA Health Group. It’s a tremendous organization and the future is bright. VNA Health Group’s board of trustees and management team are strong and committed to ensuring a successful transition,” said Dr. Landers. “Looking ahead, I am so excited and honored to join Hebrew SeniorLife, an innovative and caring organization that shares my own values of tikkun olam – to heal the world. For more than a century Hebrew SeniorLife has been a beacon of excellence, dedicated to supporting Greater Boston seniors in all facets of their lives.

“As a Harvard Medical School affiliate that houses the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife is also known around the globe as a leader in understanding and finding solutions for the most serious age-related health problems people face. I look forward to working with this special caring community to expand on the tremendous impact made during the tenure of Lou Woolf, current Hebrew SeniorLife president & CEO, and make a worldwide difference in research, education, and advocacy to ensure all people can age with independence, dignity, and health. 

“The United States and world populations are rapidly aging, and we are not fully prepared. We have unfortunately witnessed through the horrors of the pandemic how our families, communities, front-line workforce and health system have many vulnerabilities and have experienced troubling inequities. There is a tremendous need to bolster knowledge and skills around aging issues, and we must find creative new solutions, and expand evidence-based practice and policy. Hebrew SeniorLife is a bold leader and trusted partner in addressing these challenges.”

Former Hebrew SeniorLife Board Chair and current Governance Committee Chair Jeff Drucker led the Board Search Committee. “On behalf of the Search Committee I would like to congratulate Dr. Landers and welcome him to the Hebrew SeniorLife community,” said Drucker. “At the same time, I would like to thank everyone who worked with the committee during this process and for their assistance in bringing this search to a wonderful conclusion.”

Dr. Landers currently lives with his wife Allison Landers (a banking and financial services executive) and their three sons in Central New Jersey near VNA Health Group’s headquarters at the Jersey Shore. He grew up near Cleveland, OH, and is the son of Maxine Landers, a retired occupational therapist and accomplished hospital administrator, and Dr. Michael Landers, a retired family dentist, anatomist, and leader in medical education. Dr. Steve Landers is a graduate of Shaker Heights High School, Indiana University at Bloomington, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed a Family Medicine Residency at University Hospitals of Cleveland / Case Western Reserve University and completed a Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.

At VNA Health Group, Dr. Landers has led a multi-state organization that includes a wide range of home health, hospice, primary care, and public health services. The organization makes over one million home visits each year and includes many partnerships and ventures including home visiting physician services, palliative medicine physician services, federally qualified community health centers, LGBTQ+ health services, and a broad portfolio of additional health and human service programs designed around concepts in harm reduction and advancement of health equity. The organization has over 2,400 employees who care for an active daily census of approximately 12,000 patients. 

Key achievements that took place during Dr. Landers’ tenure include a more than doubling of the size of the organization’s revenues under management, implementation of a unique hospital joint-venture model, launching of a “connected health institute” focused on mobile and digital health, and obtaining CMS Innovation Center funding for four different initiatives. Dr. Landers focused the organization on employee health and safety, and community impact during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its lifesaving pandemic work was featured at the United States Senate Committee on Aging, ABC’s Good Morning America, and CBS Mornings with Gayle King.  

Before joining VNA Health Group, Dr. Landers served in several capacities at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, most recently as the director of the Center for Home Care and Community Rehabilitation and as director of post-acute operations. There he functioned as lead executive and clinical officer for home health, hospice, home infusion pharmacy, home respiratory therapy, home cardiac monitoring, home visiting physician program, and community skilled nursing facility relations. 

Dr. Landers has held a number of volunteer and industry board memberships including current positions with University Hospital in Newark; Parker Health Group in Piscataway, NJ; Partnership For Quality Home Health Care in Washington, D.C.; and New Jersey Alliance For Aging Well. His previous board memberships include Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation in Washington, D.C.; New Jersey Hospital Association Health Research and Educational Trust; Community Health Accreditation Partner in Washington, D.C.; Greater Newark Health Care Coalition; National Association for Home Care & Hospice; and the American Academy of Home Care Medicine. 

In addition to his current appointment as clinical associate professor of family medicine and community health at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, he has held a number of prior academic positions including assistant professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. He is the author or coauthor of numerous peer reviewed publications including essays about home health care published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He has an extensive list of writings and presentations such as editorials and commentary in newspapers, industry press, magazines, blogs, Congressional testimony, conference speaking, and media appearances. Dr. Landers intends to continue to contribute to research, education, and advocacy in his role at Hebrew SeniorLife.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching, and redefining the possibilities of aging. Hebrew SeniorLife cares for more than 3,000 seniors a day across six campuses throughout Greater Boston. Locations include: Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-Boston and Hebrew Rehabilitation Center-NewBridge in Dedham; NewBridge on the Charles, Dedham; Orchard Cove, Canton; Simon C. Fireman Community, Randolph; Center Communities of Brookline; and Jack Satter House, Revere. Hebrew SeniorLife also conducts influential research into aging at the Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, which has a portfolio of more than $85 million, making it one of the largest gerontological research facilities in the U.S. in a clinical setting. It also trains more than 1,000 geriatric care providers each year. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit our website or follow us on our blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

BOSTON — A paper titled “Assessment of the genetic and clinical determinants of fracture risk: genome wide association and mendelian randomization study” appeared today in the British Medical Journal. The paper reports findings from a large international collaboration that identified 15 variations in the genome that are related to the risk of suffering bone fractures, which are a major healthcare problem affecting more than 9 million persons worldwide every year. The study provides evidence against a causal effect of several proposed clinical risk factors for fractures, including diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, vitamin D, as well as others. These findings strongly suggest that treatments aimed at increasing bone strength are more likely to be successful in preventing fractures than widespread supplementation of calcium and vitamin D or targeting other risk factors that were not found to mediate the disease.

This study was made possible through a team of researchers from the U.S., Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia who formed the largest effort to date investigating the genetics of osteoporosis and fracture risk. The study team included researchers from the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife—among them, co-senior author Douglas P. Kiel, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the Musculoskeletal Research Center. The study sample was comprised of 185,057 cases of bone fractures and 377,201 controls who were part of the Genetic Factors for Osteoporosis (“GEFOS”) Consortium, the UKBiobank Study and the 23andMe biotech company.

This first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of fracture risk provides insight into the biologic mechanisms leading to fractures. Most importantly all of the identified genomic regions found to be associated with fracture have also been previously found to be associated with variation in bone mineral density (BMD), one of the most important risk factors for fracture. Based on this finding, the study team performed an additional analysis called “Mendelian Randomization,” that uses genetic information to determine causal relations between risk factors and disease outcomes. The Mendelian Randomization analysis determined that only two examined factors – bone mineral density (BMD) and muscle strength – play a potentially causal role in the risk of suffering osteoporotic fracture. One of the most important findings was that the genetic factors that lead to lowered vitamin D levels do not increase risk of fracture, meaning that vitamin D supplementation is not likely to prevent fractures in the general population. Although vitamin D supplementation is part of clinical guidelines, recent randomized control trials have failed to consistently demonstrate a beneficial effect.

According to Dr. Kiel, “Among the clinical risk factors for fracture assessed in the study, only BMD showed a major causal effect on fracture. The genetic factors contributing to fractures are also the same ones that affect BMD. Knowing one’s genetic risk for fracture at an early age could be a useful piece of information to persons wanting to maintain their bone health as they age. Also the study identified novel genetic variants that could be used to target future drug therapies to prevent fracture.”

Osteoporotic fractures represent a major health risk to older adults:

• 34 million Americans have low bone density, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis and broken bones.
• The condition leads to bone fragility and an increased risk of fractures, especially of the hip, spine and wrist. About one-quarter of those over age 50 who suffer a hip fracture die within a year of the injury.
• Osteoporosis-related fractures were responsible for an estimated $19 billion in health care costs in 2005, with that figure expected to increase to $25 billion by 2025.

This research was funded in part by ongoing grants from the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to the Institute for Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.

About the Institute for Aging Research
Scientists at the Institute for Aging Research seek to transform the human experience of aging by conducting research that will ensure a life of health, dignity and productivity into advanced age. The Institute carries out rigorous studies that discover the mechanisms of age-related disease and disability; lead to the prevention, treatment and cure of disease; advance the standard of care for older people; and inform public decision-making. The Musculoskeletal Center within IFAR studies conditions affecting bone, muscle, and joint health with aging.

About Hebrew SeniorLife
Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a national senior services leader uniquely dedicated to rethinking, researching and redefining the possibilities of aging. Based in Boston, the non-profit, non-sectarian organization has provided communities and health care for seniors, research into aging, and education for geriatric care providers since 1903. For more information about Hebrew SeniorLife, visit https://www.hebrewseniorlife.org, follow us on Twitter @H_SeniorLife, like us on Facebook or read our blog.