Bioethics for Aging Societies explores ethical and social challenges arising from population aging, a demographic shift toward longer lives and smaller families.  Its goal is to help researchers, professionals, and members of the public think together about common challenges facing aging societies like the United States, with attention to foundational questions: What does it mean to live a good life in later life? And how should we live together in aging societies in ways that include and support fellow citizens who are aging or providing care?

The Bioethics for Aging Societies research portfolio includes work on dementia, family caregiving, health care decision-making, housing, and technology.  A cross-cutting theme of this research is understanding how shared ideas and values – narratives – about aging within a society shape individual experiences and social investments.

WATCH: Interview with Senior Research Scholar Nancy Berlinger, produced by the Center for Life Sciences and Public Learning at the Museum of Science, Boston.

Key publications

N Berlinger, EA Largent, M Buchbinder, and MZ Solomon, eds., Facing Dementia: Clarifying End-of-Life Choices, Supporting Better Lives, special report, Hastings Center Report 54, no. 1 (2024): SS1-SS50
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1552146x/2024/54/S1
Special Report
Funder: Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust 

N Berlinger, K de Medeiros, and MZ Solomon, eds., What Makes a Good Life in Late Life? Citizenship and Justice in Aging Societies, special report, Hastings Center Report 48, no. 5 (2018): SS1-SS84
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/1552146x/2018/48/S3
Edited volume of essays
Funder: Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust

Nancy Berlinger and Alison Reiheld. “Ethics at the Hinge: Health-Care Organizations and Family Caregivers During Discharge Planning.” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 68, no. 2 (2025): 255-270. Abstract: https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2025.a962022.

N Berlinger, K de Medeiros, and L Girling, “Bioethics and Gerontology: The Value of Thinking Together.”
The Gerontologist 2022 Vol. 62, No. 8: 1-7.
https://doi.org/10.1093/geront/gnab186

Research network: Housing, Aging, and Health Research Network

Project: Housing America’s aging society: a bioethics standpoint for policy development
January – December 2023

Funder: Greenwall Foundation Bridging Bioethics Research & Policy Program

Project: Covid Responses for Equitable Community-based Aging Policies and Practices (Covid RECAPP)
2021-2022
Funder: Retirement Research Foundation for Aging

J Molinsky, N Berlinger, and B Hu, Advancing Housing and Health Equity for Older Adults: Pandemic Innovations and Policy Ideas. Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. October 6, 2022. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/covid-19-recapp-report

Advancing Housing and Health Equity for Older Adults: Report Summary & Key Recommendations, Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies and The Hastings Center, 2022. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/interactive-item/files/RECAPP-Summary-Recommendations_0.pdf,

Webinar Series

N Berlinger, “The Place in “Aging in Place”: Housing Equity in Late Life.” Hastings Center Bioethics Forum, September 30, 2022. https://www.thehastingscenter.org/the-place-in-aging-in-place-housing-equity-in-late-life/

Aging in [a] place: Planning, design & spatial justice in aging societies. Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Public symposium, October 18, 2019.
Agenda and videos: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/event/aging-in-a-place-planning-design-spatial-justice-in-aging-societies/
2019-20
Funder: Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust

Dementia and caregiving: projects and publications

Project: Dementia and the Ethics of Choosing When to Die
2019-21
Funder: Robert W. Wilson Charitable Trust
Final report forthcoming in 2023

Project: The Meanings of Dementia: Interpreting Cultural Narratives of Aging Societies
2022-24
Funder: National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Program

Project: Living Alone at Home with Dementia: Ethical Considerations for Inclusion
2019-20
Funder: National Institute on Aging, Administrative Supplement for Research on Bioethical Issues

K de Medeiros, N Berlinger, and L Girling, “Not Wanting to Lose the Dignity of Risk: On Living Alone with Dementia,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Spring 2022
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/861779/pdf

K de Medeiros, L Girling, and N Berlinger, “Inclusion of People Living with Alzheimer’s Disease or Related Dementias Who Lack a Study Partner in Social Research: Ethical Considerations from a Qualitative Evidence Synthesis,” Dementia, March 1, 2022: https://doi.org/10.1177/14713012211072501

Other publications on population aging

N Berlinger, “With No Dementia Cure in Sight, It’s Time for Communities to Become Dementia Friendly,” August 14, 2019, https://www.statnews.com/2019/08/14/dementia-friendly-projects-communities/

J Chin, N Berlinger, M Dunn, M Gusmano, eds. Caring for older people in an ageing society: a Singapore bioethics casebook, volume II (NUS, 2017) www.bioethicscasebook.sg

J Chin, M Dunn, N Berlinger, M Gusmano, Good care at home for older people in Singapore (NUS, 2017) https://bit.ly/2BAcWJ3