Investigators

Alberto Palloni received his Ph.D. in Sociology (and Demography) in 1977 from the University of Washington and joined the University of Wisconsin faculty in 1980. His research includes mathematical models for analysis of populations, mortality and health, as well as population and development interrelations. He was a participant in the United Nations Task Force on HIV/AIDS, which drafted guidelines for estimating and projecting populations exposed to HIV/AIDS. Professor Palloni has received research grants in the areas of mortality, fertility and infectious diseases, as well as in methodology and statistics. He is currently working on books on the history of population in Latin America, demographic techniques, and methods for the analysis of longitudinal data. He is also co-director of a project initiating new research on the health conditions of the elderly in Latin America. The project involves data collection efforts in nine countries of the region.

Professor of Gerontology at the Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus. She has a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology with a specialization in Social Gerontology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her research interests have focused on social and cultural aspects of aging, gender differences in the aging process, and the utilization of health and social services by older adults as well as satisfaction with services. She has been Member of the World Health Organization Advisory Panel of Experts on Ageing and Health and a Consultant on Aging to PAHO and the World Development Bank. She has written articles on social aspects of aging among older adults in Puerto Rico and Hispanics in the U.S.A. Besides aging and old age, her research interests focus on social epidemiology of breast cancer in middle-aged and elderly women in Puerto Rico and on the development of breast cancer health promotion programs for low literacy and low-income women.

Ana Luisa Dávila is a Professor in the Program of Demography of the Department of Social Sciences at The Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Puerto Rico Medical Scinces Campus. She received her Ph.D. in Demography from the Paris V, René Descartes, Université de la Sorbonne in 1987. Her research interests includes, fertility and family planning, gender and women's issues and aging. She has been consultant on aging and women health to PAHO and several community based organizations.