CURRENT PROJECTS
Committee on Understanding Divergent Trends in Longevity in High-Income Countries
An ad hoc panel of experts will examine the reasons behind the divergent trends that have been observed in longevity at older ages across high-income countries over the past quarter century and prepare a report.
The panel will address the following three questions:
• What accounts for the different trends in mortality at older ages that have been observed in Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) countries?
• What can we learn about modifiable risk factors from countries where mortality at oldest ages has improved most rapidly in the last quarter century?
• What are the likely implications of these trends for the future trajectory of mortality at advanced ages in the United States?
Membership
Eileen M. Crimmins (Co-Chair), University of Southern California
Samuel H. Preston (Co-Chair), University of Pennsylvania
James Banks, University College London, London, England
Lisa F. Berkman, Harvard University
Dana Glei, University of California, Berkeley
Noreen Goldman, Princeton University
Alan D. Lopez, University of Queensland, Australia
Johan P. Mackenbach, Erasmus University, Netherlands
Michael G. Marmot, University College London, London, England
David Mechanic, Rutgers University
Christopher J. L. Murray, University of Washington
James P. Smith, RAND Corporation, California
Jacques Vallin, Institut National D'etudes Demographiques, Paris, France
James W. Vaupel, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
John R. Wilmoth, University of California, Berkeley
Committee on Collecting, Storing, Accessing, and Protecting Social Survey Data Containing Biological Measures
Operating under the auspices of the Committee on National Statistics and the Committee on Population, this committee will organize a workshop on issues related to informed consent, data collection, confidentiality protection, data archiving, and data access for multipurpose population surveys that collect genetic and biological specimens and measures in addition to more traditional socioeconomic-demographic, behavioral-lifestyle, and physical and mental health measures. Based on (a) the panel's interpretation of the existing literature in this area; (b) the results from a set of papers that the panel will commission; and (c) the discussion from the open workshop, the panel will prepare a report with recommendations for best practices, procedures, and guidance for funding agencies, institutional review boards, and researchers to promote the benefits from biological measures in multipurpose population surveys while respecting participants and protecting the confidentiality of their data.
Issues the panel would review, with particular reference to the surveys sponsored by National Institute on Aging (NIA), include:
• Information that should be provided for informed consent to survey respondents and how consent form language affects people's willingness to participate in surveys that collect biological and other measures.
• Methods to collect and process genetic and biological specimens and measures to minimize respondent burden, maximize research potential, and protect confidentiality and privacy.
• Relevant laws, regulations, and policies, including the Common Rule for Protection of Human Subjects, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002, the 2002 regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and relevant NIH policies on data sharing, certificates of confidentiality, and related topics, including the proposed repository for genome-wide association studies .
• Factors for institutional review boards (IRBs) to consider in reviewing requests for the collection of biological specimens and measures in surveys.
• The risks and evidence of actual misuse of biological specimens and measures in surveys. Whether and which statistical techniques can anonymize genetic and other biological measures in microdata files while preserving their utility for research.
• The costs and benefits of alternative systems for archiving genetic and other biological specimens and measures produced from population surveys to permit later research use while protecting confidentiality.
• The costs and benefits of alternative forms of access to microdata containing genetic and biological measures, such as secure research data centers, licensing, and others.
Membership
Robert M. Hauser (Chair), University of Wisconsin
George M. Church, Harvard Medical School
George T. Duncan, Carnegie Mellon University
Henry T. Greely, Stanford University
Myron P. Gutmann, University of Michigan
Robert J. Levine, Yale University
John Quackenbush, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Jerome P. Reiter, Duke University
Robert B. Wallace, University of Iowa
Maxine Weinstein, Georgetown University 
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