Pr James W. Vaupel
Founder and director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock (Germany), Member of the Scientific Board of the AXA Research Fund
Professor James Vaupel studied mathematical statistics and then business at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D in public policy from Harvard. He is founder and director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock (Germany). He is Research Professor at Duke University (North Carolina, United States), where he leads the Center on the demography of aging, and Professor of Demography and Epidemiology at the Institute of Public Health at the faculty of medicine of the University of South Denmark.
Specific fields of interest and expertise
Pr. James Vaupel discovered that mortality is declining among people at advanced ages, a discovery of key importance for the biology of aging and of considerable significance for individuals, society and the economy. Publication of this discovery in 1994 was followed by a series of articles supporting and detailing the causes and consequences of the postponement of aging and the rise of longevity. Pr. Vaupel is one of the leaders in the development of biodemography including the emerging discipline of evolutionary biodemography. He helped pioneer the study “supercentenarians”, people 110 years old and older. His projections suggest that more than half of all children born since 2000 in Germany, France, Japan and other countries with long life expectancy will live past one hundred.
Publications, prizes and distinctions
Pr. Vaupel has published frequently-cited articles in Science, Nature, The Lancet, PNAS and the most prestigious journals in the field of demography. He is a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received the top two distinctions of the Population Association of America – the Sheps prize for his work on mathematical demography and the Taeuber prize for the development of biodemography. He was also awarded the IPSEN Foundation prize and the SENECA medal for his ground-breaking research into longevity and was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Newcastle.
Selection of publications on longevity
"Biodemography of human ageing"
Nature – 25 March 2010
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Podcast: Interview with Prof. James Vaupel "Our ageing society: The world's population is ageing - but with what effect on our lifestyles?",
Nature – 25 March 2010
www.nature.com
"Ageing populations: the challenges ahead",
The Lancet – October 2009 (Christensen, K., G. Doblhammer, R. Rau and J. W. Vaupel).
www.thelancet.com
"Continued Reductions in Mortality at Advanced Ages",
Population and Development Review – December 2008 (Vaupel, J. W, Rau, R., Soroko, E. and Jasilionis, D.)
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All the publications by Professor James Vaupel:
http://demogr.mpg.de
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www.demogr.mpg.de
