Millennium milestones: looking back, moving forward in your research career

The author discusses the mission of the National Institute on Aging (NIA), Office of Special Populations, the trends in appropriations, use of census data and the need to disentangle the social and political meaning of race from the presumed biological meaning, the potential effect of slavery on the health of African Americans, Federal racial and ethnic minority initiatives, definitions of race, culture, ethnicity, class and racism; formal recommendations from the NIA review of minority aging research; and NIA training and career development opportunities for minorities. Lastly, the author discusses minority aging research, health disparities and strategies for recruiting minorities into aging research.