The art of ageing well

The Director of Gerontology Research is retiring from the University of Otago at the end of this month, leaving a legacy of aged care research which directly impacted the lives of many New Zealanders.

Professor Debra Waters research has been focused on investigating body composition, physical function and falls prevention during ageing, and she works across both the School of Physiotherapy and Dunedin School of Medicine.

With her work with Native American communities and the WHO Integrated Care of Older People project continuing in the USA, Debra is nowhere near stopping but will be retiring from her current position to take up the role of an Honorary Professor at Otago and spend more time doing the things she loves - ensuring she practices all the lessons she’s learnt about ageing well.

“It has been fantastic to spend the past two decades working at Otago and collaborating with Professor Leigh Hale, Emeritus Professor Dave Baxter, Katrina Bryant, and many other staff and students who have made my time here truly rewarding,” Debra says.

“It’s bittersweet to be closing this chapter, but once I have more time I’d like to practice the healthy living that my research preaches by spending more time tramping, travelling, seeing friends and even volunteering if the opportunity allows.”

Debra will remain in Dunedin until the end of August when she returns to Albuquerque for three months where she’s a part-time Research Professor with the University of New Mexico (UNM). She has been adjunct faculty at UNM since coming to the University of Otago, but in 2019 secured two US grants that saw her returning to work part-time in the US while also working part-time at the University of Otago.

Another particular highlight of her time at Otago has been the students she taught.

“It has been an honour to teach, and I will never forget one instance where an overseas student named Lara Vlietstra sent me an email out of the blue asking me to supervise a research project as part of her Masters degree at University Medical Centre at the University Utrecht in the Netherlands.

“The plan was to supervise her project while she studied in Dunedin before she returned home but, much like myself, Lara never ended up returning home. Instead, she stayed in Otago, went on to complete her Masters and Doctorate, and took up the position of a Lecturer in the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences and is now a Senior Lecturer– the same role I took up when I first moved to Dunedin.”

Debra describes this experience as “a full-circle moment”, and one of the many rewarding instances that came from her time teaching and supervising students.

Born and raised in Chicago, Debra first discovered gerontology after completing an undergraduate course on exercise physiology which ignited a passion for learning about changes in skeletal muscle during aging and the positive impact of exercise that she didn’t know she had.

The field was heavily male-dominated at that time, but that didn’t deter Debra as she moved to New Mexico to begin her graduate studies and would eventually result in her becoming the Director of the New Mexico Ageing Study.

At the time her team was looking into sarcopenia, the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass and function and taking a more basic science approach, but Debra wanted to explore ways in which this research could have a direct impact of the lives of older adults, especially those from communities that need support the most.

“My focus on older people as an exercise physiologist was a bit odd from the beginning but I knew this research was important and, after my own father died as a result of a bad fall, I got first-hand experience as to why research into maintaining skeletal muscle mass and function to reduce falls risk is vital and needed to be shared with this community in a way that truly reaches them.”

Debra’s determination to do work which directly impacted people is what motivated her to seek new opportunities in New Zealand where she would join the University of Otago.

Debra would go on to lead a prominent career in gerontology, being the founding Director of the Collaboration of Ageing Research Excellence (CARE) research theme, leading the Otago Falls/Tu Ora Network, being a Director of the Ageing Well Science Challenge, Vice President of the New Zealand Association of Gerontology, and Editor in Chief of the Australasia Journal on Ageing among other roles.

She, her students and her colleagues at Age Concern Otago were instrumental in building a body of research that served as the evidence base for the Steady As You Go falls prevention exercise class. This community-based, peer-led model was adapted from the globally renowned Otago Exercise Programme and is being rolled out nationally by Age Concern New Zealand.

This falls prevention model has received international recognition and was vital in her USA-based research group receiving a large National Institutes of Health grant to test the programme with an Indigenous Zuni community.

“Falls prevention models like the Steady As You Go and Taurite Tu have large social impacts, and need to be developed and delivered by the people who they are meant to serve. This is the key to ensuring success, sustainability, and effectiveness of these programmes .”

• Kōrero by the Division of Health Sciences Communications Adviser, Kelsey Swart.