Fiatarone Singh details her groundbreaking research on aging

Many University students harbor lofty ambitions of effecting change -- be it social, environmental, or physical -- that will in some way improve the lives of others. Dr. Maria Fiatarone Singh, a professor at The University of Sydney and a Tufts faculty member, is an individual who has actually done so: Singh has conducted groundbreaking research that has helped to improve the mental and physical health of the elderly.

In addition to her ongoing research projects and professorial duties, Singh serves on the Advisory Board of the Keiser Institute on Aging and is the founder and executive director of the non-profit Fit For Your Life Foundation, Ltd., which aims to increase the mental and physical health of older adults. She has also written a book entitled Exercise, Nutrition and the Older Woman: Wellness for Women Over Fifty.

Singh, who will be giving a speech sponsored by Tufts' Matthew and Brenda B. Ross Initiative on Aging on Mar. 6, from 4-5 p.m. in Cabot Auditorium with a reception to follow, spoke to the Daily about her research, its implications, and gave advice to University students.



Daily: I understand that you worked in conjunction with researchers at Tufts University to study strength training's potential benefits for the elderly. What did this research entail? What did you conclude by way of this mutual research effort?

MF: I have been a scientist and faculty member at Tufts since 1987 and continue to hold a visiting scientist position in the NEPS lab, as I have ongoing collaborations with many colleagues at the HNRC. I began working with Bill Evans on the concept of progressive resistance training in the frail elderly in 1987. We thought that the idea that older persons could not respond to high intensity strength training the way younger, healthier individuals did was a myth, not evidence-based. So I conducted the first trial of this form of exercise in nursing home residents of average age 90 [86-96] in 1990.

The results of this study indicated that skeletal muscle was able to adapt to this kind of exercise even at this very advanced age, despite severe frailty and multiple chronic illnesses. These individuals more than doubled their muscle strength and significantly increased the size of their leg muscles. Improvements in gait and balance were seen as well. Since then, these findings have been expanded to large diverse populations of older individuals with many different kinds of syndromes. The publicity in both the popular media and the scientific community generated by this research has really changed many people's perspectives on the plasticity of the aging process, and the potential for ameliorating degenerative changes of aging and disuse.



Daily: How and when did you first become involved with Tufts? Do you plan to continue working in conjunction with Tufts faculty and researchers in the future?

MF: I came to Tufts and Harvard in 1987 after I finished my Geriatric Medicine Fellowship at UCLA, in order to combine geriatric practice with research into exercise, nutrition, and aging. I have worked continuously with other Tufts investigators since that time, and continue to do so, in the areas of longitudinal changes in body composition and function, malnutrition in the nursing home, vitamin E supplementation, and chronic infection, exercise and chronic renal failure, and other areas.



Daily: Tufts is a university that heavily encourages research among its undergraduate and graduate populations. How do you feel that researching enriches the University experience? What makes it so valuable?

MF: Once you have done your own research, you have a much greater understanding and appreciation of the scientific endeavor and an ability to read scientific findings with a critical eye, which is so necessary for interpreting and building on the findings of others. Even if one is not going to spend a career in research, the knowledge of the scientific process is helpful for organizing and managing many other kinds of pursuits.



Daily: As a geriatrician, your area of study does not necessarily seem directly related to college students. What implications does your research have for Tufts and other college students?

MF: I would say that the study of aging has implications for virtually every field that students might pursue, be it philosophy, political science, nutrition, or something else. The demographic imperative means that the aging of the population will significantly impact on how nations function in the future and decisions we make in all areas of our lives. The way in which we care for the most vulnerable members of our society, which certainly includes the very old and frail, may be the prime measure of our development as compassionate and moral societies.



Daily: What spurred your interest in exercise and aging?

MF: Watching Jack LaLanne on TV with my grandmother as a small child. Her dedication to exercise and good nutrition as a means to preventive medicine, even as a layperson with no medical background, had a profound influence on my career decisions. When she broke her hip and suffered at the hands of a medical system ill equipped at the time to deal with geriatric syndromes and complicated patients, it cemented my desire to create a better kind of medical care for such patients.



Daily: How do you recommend that students with similar interests proceed?

MF: Create your own path, whether in medicine, nutrition, exercise, or related

fields. You can find a way to improve things that you see are missing if you commit yourself to it.



Daily: What are some similarities and differences between your experiences at Tufts and the University of Sydney?

MF: I am in an Exercise and Sport Science School within a Faculty of Health Sciences [allied health professionals] in Sydney. This is quite different than my role in the Division on Aging at Harvard as a geriatrician or as Chief of the NEPS lab at Tufts. However, I continue to work to integrate the fields of exercise, nutrition and aging for the purpose of optimizing health and functioning in old age.

Daily: What has been your career's crowning moment so far? Is there a discovery that you're most proud of, an initiative that you've found exceptionally fulfilling?

MF: Nothing is quite as satisfying as helping to give back strength to a 100-year-

old person so that they can walk more independently and with perhaps less fear of falling, and rely less on others to help them.



Daily: If you could give one piece of advice to the Tufts student body, what would it be?

MF: Always dream of a better world, and then try to create just a little piece of it.