Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging at CSU
A catalyst for interdisciplinary research and evidence-based outreach to improve lifespan and healthspan.
Three core activities:
- Interdisciplinary Research into Basic and Translational Mechanisms that Promote Healthy Aging
- Educational Opportunities for Undergraduate, Graduate Student, and Postdoctoral Training
- Engagement with the Community for Programs that Support Healthy Aging
People in general are living longer and that is great news, but it also creates a need for addressing critical challenges related to age-related diseases and disabilities. Even more important, it challenges us to consider ways to promote successful, healthy aging so people can live the healthiest and most productive lives.
The Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging, launched with a generous $5 million gift from Bob and Kitty Wilson, owners of Columbine Health Systems, addresses these challenges by serving as a catalyst for interdisciplinary research, education, and community engagement around cutting-edge issues involved in healthy and successful aging.
The Center unites current expertise and active research programs at CSU in the biological and psychological/sociological aspects of healthy aging, basic and translational science, and integration of animal and human models of aging. True to CSU’s land-grant heritage, a significant focus of activity involves community engagement and the translation of scientific discoveries to programs and policies that support successful aging.
The Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging houses an integrated suite of offices and lab spaces for faculty who are engaging in cutting-edge research on biological, cognitive, psychological, social, and behavioral factors that lead to healthy and successful aging. The Center leverages and brings together extensive existing research on aging at the university, and offers new opportunities for research and community programs.
CSU has a long history of aging-related research, and this beautiful new center provides a collaborative, state-of-the-art space to bring successful researchers together from across disciplines to work toward innovative solutions that support healthy and successful aging. The Center provides an environment in which cross-disciplinary research can take place and innovative ideas can more easily flourish.
In addition to research activities, part of the mission of the Center is to offer evidence-based outreach services. Please visit the Aging Clinic of the Rockies website to learn more about neuropsychological testing and counseling services for older adults and their families.
The Center reports to the Vice President for Research and a board represented by the deans of the Colleges of Health and Human Sciences, Natural Sciences, Engineering, and Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Want to learn more about the Center?
Watch this three-part webinar:
Part 1: History of the Center
Part 2: Website Tour of Resources
Part 3: Ehrhart’s Vision for the Center
Nicole Ehrhart, V.M.D
Director, Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging
Dr. Ehrhart is the director of Colorado State University’s Columbine Health Systems Center for Healthy Aging and a full professor in clinical sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She holds the Ross M. Wilkins, M.D. Limb Preservation Foundation University Chair in Musculoskeletal Biology and Oncology. As director of the Laboratory of Comparative Musculoskeletal Oncology and Traumatology, Ehrhart has spent the past 20 years researching limb preservation, regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and cancer.
Her lab focuses on translational aging research to enhance health and lifespan for aging patients, both human and canine, using comparative medicine to develop new therapeutic strategies to slow aging. Ehrhart also holds joint faculty positions in CSU’s School of Biomedical Engineering, the Cell and Molecular Biology program, and at the University of Colorado Gates Regenerative Medicine Center and the University of Colorado Cancer Center.
In addition to her leadership roles in various prestigious national and international scientific organizations (ACVS, VSSO, VOS, WVOC), Ehrhart was the first woman to be awarded a University-level Endowed Chair at Colorado State University.
MEET THE TEAM
