WA Fulbright winner looking at active older living

Keeping older people active and out of hospital is a major research issue which West Australian Billie Giles-Corti will be pursuing at Stanford University in California as a winner of an Australian Fulbright scholarship for 2007.

Professor Giles-Corti will be establishing an active ageing research program at Stanford which will examine how to keep people active as they age and help reduce pressure on the hospital health system. “Being active as you age reduces the risk of frailty and falls and provides an opportunity for people to interact with others, keeping people mentally healthy”, she said.

Australia and the US shared many common preventable public health concerns including a shared recognition that “a toxic built environment that decreases physical activity and increases a sedentary lifestyle” was a significant factor in many health problems, Prof Giles-Conti said.

In the US the University of Western Australian researcher will study local academic work on active living and will also concentrate on helping create a multidisciplinary centre for research into health and the built environment.