Fernando Torres-Gil

Fernando Torres-Gil, PhD, of Los Angeles, California, was elected to the AARP Board of Directors in 2010.

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Life Perspectives

"I feel like I've been waiting my entire life to join this incredible organization and to be involved in the great issues of an aging society. I was born and raised in Salinas, California, a son of migrant farm workers. I was raised by a single mother who ultimately raised nine children, all of whom went to college. I contracted polio when I was six months of age and spent much of my youth in hospitals and much of life adjusting to a disability and all that goes with it. I think it gives me a unique background that I hope I can use to help AARP reach out to the Latino community, to the disability community and, of course, to older Americans.

"It's quite well documented in research and studies that Latino elders are faced with multiple jeopardies. They're more likely to have certain chronic conditions, less likely to have high education levels, less likely to have retirement and pension coverage. But ironically, the recent data from NIH shows that Latinos now have the highest longevity rates and are more likely to live longer than African American, white and most Asian and Pacific Islander populations. So we face a unique challenge. Latinos will live longer, but they will face a variety of concerns that have to be addressed.

"Add to that the demographic trend that Latinos will be the largest minority group in the country by 2050, and already are the majority in many states, such as California. So, in future years, Latinos will have an inordinately important role as the work force whose taxes will pay for public benefits for the next generation of elders. I'm so pleased that AARP is paying special attention to the needs of older Latinos, and to the role that the emerging Latino population can play in the future aging of the United States.

"Aging baby boomers in many ways may be more financially and socially vulnerable than their parents. They are seeing a dramatic decline in their savings and retirement portfolios; they can no longer depend on their homes in terms of equity; there may be major changes in public benefits because of our budgetary crises; and Medicare, Medicaid and health care may be more expensive. Baby Boomers may feel less secure financially as they grow older.

"This may give us the opportunity to demonstrate the kind of leadership that we saw in our parents and grandparents during the last great social and economic crisis facing the United States. In the 1930s and 1940s they faced a great test of adversity, and they faced it successfully. The great test of adversity for baby boomers will be in their later years, whereas for their parents and grandparents it was when they were young.

"I hope that AARP will be an equal partner in working with aging baby boomers to meet that great test of leadership, to overcome what I think will be some very serious challenges."

Expertise

Gerontology, social welfare, public policy, aging and minorities, disability rights and issues, Latinos and diversity.

Education

Ph.D., Florence Heller Graduate School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University; M.S.W., Florence Heller Graduate School for Social Policy, Brandeis University; B.A., San Jose State University; A.A., Hartnell Community College.

Experience

Currently, acting dean and associate dean of academic affairs, professor of social welfare and public policy, and director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the School of Public Affairs, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Formerly, assistant secretary for aging for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; chairman of the PhD in gerontology program, Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California (USC); special assistant, Secretary Patricia Harris, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; acting dean, UCLA School of Public Affairs; associate director of the National Center on Minority Aging Populations at both USC and San Diego State University; staff director, Select Committee on Aging, U.S. House of Representatives.

Volunteer experience

Boards: Serves on AARP Board's Audit and Finance Committee and on the AARP Foundation Board of Directors. Serves on boards of directors of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, on the advisory Board of Disability Rights Advocates, and on the National Hispanic Council on Aging. Formerly a board member of: Board of Airport Commission, Los Angeles World Airport Commission; Alliance for a Better Community; Elderhostel; Older Women's League; Families USA; Consumers Union; the California Endowment; and the Farm Worker Institute for Education, among many others.

Other: Serves on the Disabilities Rights Advocates Advisory Board, Latino Business Chamber of Greater Los Angeles, Rotary of Los Angeles, and on the Castroville Leadership Academy. Previously served on San Francisco Regional Selection Panel, and on the President's Commission on White House Fellowships, among numerous other organizations and activities.

Honors

Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gerontological Health Section of the American Public Health Association. Honored as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business Magazine. Received the Education Positive Image Award from the Hispanic Outreach Taskforce Organization.

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