Becca Levy, a professor of social & behavioral sciences at the Yale School of Public Health and of psychology at Yale University, is being honored with the Gerontological Society of America’s 2023 Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award for her 2022 book, Breaking the Age Code: How Your Age Beliefs Determine How Long and Well You Live (HarperCollins). The award recognizes insightful and innovative publications on aging and life course development in the behavioral and social sciences.
The book has received attention and accolades from many circles. It was cited by The Wall Street Journal as one of the best books and podcasts of 2022 about aging and retirement, and Levy was interviewed in such media outlets as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Forbes, AARP.org, and Canada’s CBC.
“This award is particularly meaningful to me because it’s from a professional organization that is at the forefront of promoting aging health research and advocating for the rights of older persons,” Levy said.
This is the second time Levy has received the GSA’s Kalish Innovation Award. She was the first author and one of six researchers (along with Yale School of Medicine lecturer Martin Slade, MPH ’01) who shared the award in 2016 for their paper “A Culture-Brain Link: Negative Age Stereotypes Predict Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers,” which appeared in the journal Psychology and Aging.
The GSA is the country’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging. Levy will receive her award at the GSA’s annual scientific meeting in November in Tampa, Florida.