The Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) is Australia's peak national body linking professionals working across the multidisciplinary fields of ageing. Since 1964, AAG has connected professionals with an interest in gerontology to help them collaborate and exchange information on ageing. The AAG's goal is to expand knowledge of ageing in order to improve the experience of ageing.
History
The foundations of the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) were laid on 5 July 1962 when Dr Geoffrey Hughes and Dr Arthur Everitt established the Gerontological Society of New South Wales. The following year, Dr Sidney Sax and Sir Giles Chippendall (then President of the National Old Peoples Welfare Council) worked with Dr David Wallace to establish the AAG. The inaugural National Conference of the AAG was held at the Australian National University in Canberra in June 1964.
Over the next two decades, the AAG quickly established itself as the national peak body representing gerontologists from a broad range of professional backgrounds, including geriatricians, academics, researchers, nurses and allied health professionals.
Today, the Association has over 1000 members as well as Divisions established in every State and Territory. The AAG represents gerontologists on a variety of Government advisory panels and working groups, and is also a member of the National Aged Care Alliance.
The AAG has also been instrumental in developing and promoting gerontology internationally. The AAG has had representation on a range of international advisory committees and delegations, including the Australian Delegation to the First World Assembly on Ageing held in Vienna in 1982.
The AAG is an active member of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG). In 1997, the AAG hosted the IAGG World Congress in Adelaide. It was at this congress that a joint UN Office on Ageing and IAGG project, the “Research Agenda on Ageing for the 21st Century”, was established with Professor Gary Andrews appointed co-convener.