There is a natural tendency to focus on children and youths in PACES activities.  That focus seems to lessen as we address aging cohorts until we reach those of us who are seniors.  Several of us have identified ourselves in the ELDERS site on PACES CONNETION.  I would like to further that process by introducing you to a researcher who, as a senior, became a PACES pioneer. His name is Bruce McEwen.  He is a PACES pioneer who deserves to be remembered.

When Bruce McEwen was 79, he published, with his 72 year-old brother Craig, an important paper summarizing the evidence that early childhood adversity, including extended poverty, contribute to the replication of poverty across generations. Adverse social as well as household conditions for infants and children can produce toxic stress and affect body and brain development. Bruce, a neuroendocrinologist at Rockefeller University until his death in 2020, developed with Eliot Stellar the concept of allostatic load which describes the cumulative “wear and tear” on the body of chronic and toxic stress. That concept underlies much of the “brain science” central to understanding PACEs.

Bruce recognized, however, that the understanding of allostatic load required both the biological and social sciences because the sources of toxic stress come from social relationships and social inequalities that can affect bodily systems. He emphasized the plasticity of the brain and the potential for healing through behavioral practices and strong social support systems, but he also highlighted the importance of social policies to diminish adversity and build community resilience. His thinking is closely reflected in Toward an Integrated Science of PACEs which is attached.

To learn more about Bruce, see his short oral history at

https://www.rockefeller.edu/ab...erview-bruce-mcewen/

With thanks to Craig McEwen for accuracy verification