Principal Investigator
Aging is a complex multifactorial process. Chronological age is only one of the biopsychosocial factors associated with it. Age-related diseases and functional loss increase with increasing age, but are neither unavoidable nor fully interdependent.
Within the global efforts to shift from lifespan to health span, we focus on specific biomolecular-phenotypical-clinical profiles of frailty and robustness as well as their trajectories overtime. To improve clinical decision-making in advanced age, we dedicate particular attention to multiple organ dysfunction and the weakest links of the organism as a main determinant of frailty and atypical disease presentation; over 80% of the older population suffers from at least one chronic condition in Europe and over half of the German 65+ population suffers from multimorbidity with disastrous consequences for accelerated aging and disability. Therefore, maintenance of overall health, quality of life, wellbeing and biopsychosocial functional integrity as well as disclosing its promoters are an absolute public health priority. Medical actions usually take little or no account of aging physiology, decreased organ reserve, and increased vulnerability. In fact, they display a broad spectrum of iatrogenic implications – with iatrogenic complications being one of the most prominent clinical syndromes with advancing age. Our research focuses on uncovering signatures of the individual, heterogeneous, multifactorial and dynamic oscillatory balance between aging accelerating and decelerating determinants.
Understanding mechanisms of multidimensional health beyond organ-centered medicine and deficit-oriented coding systems is crucial to manage complexity of aging and maintain biopsychosocial robustness and quality of life.
Principal Investigator