Our Mission, Purpose, and Vision

ROCA Faculty and Staff

Mission

Our mission has four goals:

To promote basic research studies linked to aging and age-related diseases
To develop effective interventions for diseases and disabilities among the elderly
To form collaborative basic and clinical research relationships with other faculty within the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and other national aging research programs
To advance community education on the basic and translational importance of aging research

The primary initiative of the Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging is to serve as a nexus for translational research across disciplines. ROCA researchers excel in the basic sciences of aging and are able to translate their information from the laboratory bench to understanding aging and age-related diseases in humans.

Purpose

The purpose of the center is to provide the important underpinnings for the most promising approaches in order to optimize the health of aging populations and prevent or delay age-related diseases.

Vision

The vision of the Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging began with the recognition by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center’s Department of Geriatric Medicine of the imperative need for a basic science research program emphasizing the mechanisms of aging at the cellular level. To this end, the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation contributed a major gift of $7 million to establish ROCA as the research arm of the Donald W. Reynolds Department of Geriatric Medicine. This funding was matched by the State of Oklahoma to create a total endowment of $13.5 million.