Associate professor of health care policy Nicole Maestas, PhD, has received an Innovation Pilot Award in Healthy Aging through the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Initiative Grants Program.

Maestas’ research will focus on older individuals who may wish to have a job but do not actually work. At the current time, there are no data reporting if these individuals do not work because they lack the functional capacities required by jobs in U.S. labor markets, or if there are other barriers at play. The project will collect data from a nationally representative sample of Americans to measure their functional capacity to work across eight functional domains relevant to jobs found in the U.S. market. The research will provide insights into why many older individuals who express a preference for working do not work or work substantially below their capacity. The project aims to facilitate the development of interventions designed to restore or retool specific work abilities for older adults.

The Innovation Pilot Award in Healthy Aging is given to members of the Harvard community working to transform the process of global aging and promote healthy longevity through research, innovation, collaboration, and policy. It was designed to provide opportunities to address issues and challenges in aging and healthy longevity worldwide.

With support from the Dr. M. Lee Pearce Foundation, Inc., Harvard Medical School Dean George Daley, MD, PhD, has committed to funding up to $1 million in pilot grants through the Dean’s Initiative Grants Program. These grants encourage school-wide collaborations and generate preliminary work that can lead to larger initiatives in the future.