Americans are living longer than ever before. For many, though, these extra years have become a bitter gift, marred by dementia, disability, and loss of independence. Extending Life, Enhancing Life sets the course toward practical solutions to these problems by specifying 15 research priorities in five key areas of investigation: basic biomedicine - to understand the fundamental processes of aging; clinical - to intervene against common disabilities and maladies of older persons; behavioural and social - to build on past successes with behavioural and social interventions; health services delivery - to seek answers to the troubling issues of insufficient delivery of health care in the face of increasing health care costs; and biomedical ethics - to clarify underlying ethical guidelines about life and death decisions. Most important, the volume firmly establishes the connection between research and its beneficial results for the quality of life for older persons.