The Boston University Gerontology Center's focus is on research, consultation, and education in all aspects of the aging process and the health and welfare of older persons. The center is Universitywide, coordinating efforts to promote understanding and professional competence in the biological, medical, and social aspects of aging.

In addition to sponsoring lectures, workshops, and conferences, the center awards the Louis Lowy Certificate in Gerontological Studies to students in any University degree program who have completed a specified number of approved courses focusing on gerontology. The center awards the Certificate of Recognition for the Study of Aging to nondegree students wishing to increase their knowledge and skills through academic work in gerontology. The Center also provides a limited number of federally funded pre- and postdoctoral traineeships for research training on the sociobehavioral aspects of aging.

The annual Summer Institute in Gerontology offers academic courses and continuing education workshops on a variety of timely topics pertaining to aging. A Certificate of Continuing Education in Gerontology is available to practicing professionals taking continuing education courses in the summer institute.

The Gerontology Center Library, at 53 Bay State Road, houses more than 3,000 books, periodicals, newsletters, government documents, reports, statistical data, and training aids. The library is open to the public by appointment Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Another integral part of the training and research capability of the Gerontology Center is the Boston University Geriatrics Service providing comprehensive health care to approximately 700 of Boston's homebound inner-city elders. For further information on medical programs, contact Dr. Patricia Barry, Geriatrics, F-4, Preston Family Building, Boston, MA 02118. For more information on educational and certificate programs, contact Elizabeth Markson, PhD, Boston University Gerontology Center, 53 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215; 617/353-5045.

The Boston University Health Policy Institute (HPI) brings together scholars, policymakers, corporate and health institution managers, and health professionals to address some of the most critical health care challenges of our times. The HPI is made up of the Program for Health Care Entrepreneurship, the Center for International Health, and the Center for Educational Development in Health. It also is a base for the Gerontology Center. Through its director, the Health Policy Institute is linked with the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health, the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, the School of Social Work, and the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. For more information, write the director, Richard H. Egdahl, MD, 53 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215

The Humanities Foundation administers special humanities programs and activities through a major National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant awarded in 1981. The Humanities Foundation consists of several endowments to support graduate and undergraduate scholarships, visiting faculty, conferences, colloquia, lecture series, library acquisitions, and general program enrichment. It serves as a forum for discussing and shaping the future of the humanities at Boston University. Among its most important programs is the Society of Fellows, which makes it possible for junior faculty to have released time for research and provides a structure in which both junior and senior faculty can present and discuss research in progress. For further information, call or write Katherine T. O'Connor, Director, The Humanities Foundation, 718 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215; 617/353-6253.

The Center for the Study of Communication and the Deaf is directed by Dr. Robert Hoffmeister. It was established in 1982 to conduct research in parent-child interaction, the assessment of American Sign Language (ASL) in Deaf children, and the acquisition and use of ASL by Deaf children. The goal of the Center is to assist parents and professionals concerned with the education of the Deaf. Currently the Center has four ongoing projects: 1) an examination of the role of language on the thinking of Deaf children (Theory of Mind), 2) the learning of ASL as a second language in hearing persons, 3) the relationship of ASL to literacy and reading development in Deaf children, and 4) the development of an ASL/English curriculum for preschool through grade 8. Further information is available from Dr. Hoffmeister at the School of Education, 605 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215.

The Boston University Arthritis Center was established in 1977 to coordinate the arthritis-related activities of the professional Schools of the University, including the School of Medicine and Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. These activities include basic science research, health services research, arthritis education, and community outreach.

The professional staff of the Arthritis Center includes full-time physicians, full-time doctoral-level researchers, and more than twenty support staff members. This staff is supported by a large Multipurpose Arthritis Center grant from the National Institutes of Health and by a number of other government and foundation grants. Members of the center serve on a number of national advisory committees of both the federal government and private foundations.

Basic research programs in the Arthritis Center are directed at understanding the molecular basis of disease. Specific areas of investigation include research in immunology; inflammation and repair; regulation of gene transcription, splicing, and expression; mechanisms of autoimmunity and the pathogenesis of scleroderma; systemic lupus erythematosus; rheumatoid arthritis; and amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is an uncommon disorder that has been a focus of both basic and clinical investigation at the Arthritis Center for more than 25 years. A major clinical and basic research program has been established in scleroderma, an autoimmune connective-tissue disease. The Arthritis Center also has a nationally recognized program in epidemiology, health services research, and health economics. Members of this program have carried out important studies in osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and the effects of therapeutic agents on outcomes in rheumatic disease.

The staff of the center is involved in a wide variety of education programs for health professionals, including students from all the health professions Schools. A nurse-educator participates in all the education programs that emphasize interdisciplinary health care. The center also has a clinical and research fellowship program to train young physicians and is active in testing new therapies at the Clinical Research Center of Boston University Medical Center.

The staff is active in a number of community efforts for arthritis patients in the inner city of Boston. These include providing professional staff for the weekly Arthritis Clinics at Boston Medical Center, and the Boston VA Medical Center, as well as developing an arthritis outreach program for nursing home residents.

For further information, contact Joseph H. Korn, MD, Arthritis Center, Conte Building 5th Floor, 80 East Concord Street, Boston, MA 02118; 617/638-4310.

The Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute of the School of Medicine, founded in 1974, stimulates, conducts, and coordinates research and training related to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Under the leadership of Joseph Loscalzo, MD, PhD, the institute assists in formulating research projects, developing grant applications, providing information on sources of funding, and critically reviewing grant and contract proposals in the cardiovascular area. Over the past two decades, distinguished research advances in the area of hypertension, lipid physical chemistry, atherogenesis, endothelial function, thrombosis, nitric oxide and free radical biology, and gene therapy have been carried out by the institute's researchers, who have been singled out by the National Institutes of Health by the award of notable grant programs, including Specialized Centers of Research in both hypertension and ischemic heart disease.

The breadth and depth of programs is exemplified by a few examples of current research topics: the effect of hypertension on the blood vessel wall; molecular markers for cholesterol transport in the blood; lipoproteins and atherosclerosis; molecular mechanisms involved in arterial injury, cardiac ischemia, and infarction; inhibition of experimental atherosclerosis by antihypertensive drugs; role of thrombotic determinants in atherosclerosis; oxidative stress in atherosclerosis; gene therapy of vascular diseases; gene regulation in megakaryocytes; determinants of vascular function; gene regulation of apoproteins; endothelial function and dysfunction; studies on arterial elasticity in peripheral vascular disease; clinical trials of renin inhibitors and of antiarrhythmic drugs; investigation into the comparative benefits of therapies for coronary artery disease; the role of nitric oxide in hypertension; and the benefit of ACE inhibitors and of inotropic agents in congestive heart failure. Other research areas include the Framingham Heart Study, the most highly regarded epidemiological study of cardiovascular disease in the world.

For further information, write to Director, Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute,Boston University School of Medicine,700 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02118;617/638-4018.

Cooperative Agreements Students may receive credit for certain courses at Hebrew College of Brookline, which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Hebrew and Jewish Studies. Consortium arrangements permit cross-registration with Boston College, Brandeis University, and Tufts University.