Finch visits Finland as guest of the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care (CoEAgeCare) and the Gerontology Research Center (GEREC).
Finch's research has a very broad scope. Major themes in his work are the evolution and background factors of human life expectancy as well as underlying factors of Alzheimer`s disease. He is interested in the role of social factors and social class in health and aging, and he is a pioneer in introducing social factors into biological research, and biological factors in social and demographic research (e.g. in Cells and Surveys. Eds. CE Finch, JW Vaupel and K Kinsella, 2001).
In addition to hundreds of articles in the leading scientific journals, he has authored several books, among which Longevity, Senescence and the Genome (1990, ca one thousand pages) is a real magnum opus of aging research.
Finch is a central figure in two exceptional studies on cultural and environmental factors of age-related diseases. An international research group has for several years examined signs of cardio-vascular diseases in thousands-year- old mummies across four continents. In another study, scientists focus on health and aging of the Tsimane people who live isolated in Amazonian rain forests in Bolivia.
In recent years, a major theme in Finch´s research is the role of environmental change, particularly air pollution, in aging, health and Alzheimer´s disease. This is the focus of his latest book The Role of Global Air Pollution in Aging and Disease. Reading the Smoke Signals (2018).
Inquiries: Professor Marja Jylhä marja.jylhä@tuni.fi, or
Anniriikka Rantala, anniriikka.rantala [at] tuni.fi