Bay Area Older Adults - Educational Lecture Series

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Bay Area Older Adults is hosting an educational lecture series to stimulate your mind and inspire your creativity. The series includes nine different one-hour lectures with an hour after each lecture to socialize with other adults age 50+ and meet the speaker. Refreshments will be served. All lectures are held during the week and located in Santa Clara County. Attend as many lectures as you’d like. Space is limited, so please register as soon as possible using the button below. To hear what others think of our events, click testimonials.

Lecture 1: Synthetic biology — new frontiers in engineering life

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Engineers are responsible for many of mankind’s greatest feats. Now they are turning their attention to the very foundations of life on this planet and beyond. Recent breakthroughs in genomic sciences have many thinking about designing and building living systems from scratch. Luminescent trees to replace street lamps, bugs that happily eat the world’s worst pollution and greener fuels for our cars are all ideas considered to be feasible in the near future. We will discuss the science and technology that are driving these endeavors and sort through the hype, utility and ethics of this new field of science. This lecture is presented by Ryan McGuinness, a Silicon Valley–based scientist and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in integrating biology with technology.

Location: 255 North White Rd., San Jose, CA 95127 Click here for directions
If you need a ride to the lecture or you would like a buddy to meet you there, please email us at share@bayareaolderadults.org

Lecture 2: All you need to know about social security and more

Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Learn tips that enable you to take full advantage of your social security benefits and retirement strategies from Teri Sinclair, a 23–year veteran of the financial services industry. Teri has worked at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, AllianceBernstein and New York Life with many years of experience in estate planning, insurance, variable annuities and investments. She holds a California State Life and Health License.

Location: 550 South Winchester Blvd., San Jose, CA 95128 Click here for directions
If you need a ride to the lecture or you would like a buddy to meet you there, please email us at share@bayareaolderadults.org

Lecture 3: Experience Italy’s sensations

Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Take a visual and educational tour of Italy’s gardens, lakes, bird sanctuaries, cathedrals, museums, Middle Age and Renaissance architecture, crafts, historic towns, rolling countryside and culinary delights. The lecture is presented by Diane Cornell, a Santa Cruz native and retired art teacher who leads cultural and hiking tours of Italy every year. Her love of the outdoors takes her on frequent hikes in the Italian Dolomites and Alps. Diane loves adventure and inspires others to fully appreciate life.

Lecture 4: Genetic engineering your food

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 10:00 AM

After this lecture, you will understand why we do it, how we do it and what the risks are, so you can make educated decisions about what you eat and how to vote on ballot measures like proposition 37. Learn from Anne Ferguson, a Ph.D. scientist who has more than 20 years of biotechnology experience.

Location: Northwest YMCA, 20803 Alves Drive., Cupertino, CA 95014 Click here for directions
If you need a ride to the lecture or you would like a buddy to meet you there, please email us at share@bayareaolderadults.org

Lecture 5: Why did we spend over $3B to sequence the human genome?

Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Learn how genetic testing can be used to improve disease risk prediction, catch problems early and improve medical treatment to increase the chances of positive outcomes. The information will be presented in simple terms to make it easy to understand. The presentation will be given by Julie Montgomery, a Ph.D. scientist with more than 25 years of research and development experience in the fields of genomics and personalized medicine.

Lecture 6: Ever had an interaction with a San Jose police officer?

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 10:00 AM

If you ever had an interaction with a San Jose police officer, you will want to hear from San Jose’s Independent Police Auditor, Judge LaDoris Cordell (retired). Learn about your rights and your responsibilities when engaging with police officers, and find out about the complaint process that members of the public can use when matters of concern arise. Judge Cordell is a graduate of Stanford Law School and the first African American Superior Court Judge in Santa Clara County’s history. She has received many awards and honors for her advocacy for social justice in our community. She is the subject of the award–winning PBS documentary, "Color of Justice," and is an on–camera legal analyst for the CBS 5 Bay Area television station.

Lecture 7: Experiments in space

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 1:00 PM

Learn about the scientific experiments performed at the International Space Station to understand the effects of zero gravity on living organisms, including how it accelerates the aging process. Our speaker, Kevin Sato, was a postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and has spent more than 12 years as Deputy Project Manager of NASA space biology research projects on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station.

Lecture 8: Wake up to a better life!

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Learn the basics of sleep, how to identify common sleep disorders and simple tools for improving your sleep, health and quality of life. Our speaker is John Mitscha, a Chronic Disease Self–Management Program facilitator at the Veterans Administration, who draws from current research and his own experiences.

Lecture 9: East meets West — preventative healthcare

Thursday, October 24, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Asian medicine, including medicinal herbs, acupuncture and Qi Gong, has been used for thousands of years, but was first introduced to the United States in 1971. Since then, its use in the West has grown exponentially. The focus of Chinese medicine is prevention and treatment of the underlying cause of health problems by improving normal body functioning and natural healing. Our speaker, Ann Marie Deas L.Ac. will teach us about Chinese medicine’s theory and practice, our current scientific understanding of how it works, and how it complements Western medicine.

Ann Marie holds a Master’s degree in Public Health with an emphasis in biomedical epidemiological research, and a Master’s degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has coordinated nationally–funded epidemiological research studies related to Type-1 Diabetes, antibiotic overuse, and skin cancer prevention. She has published in national research journals and was a guest speaker at national health conferences.

BAO EDUCATIONAL LECTURE SERIES SPONSORS