Larry Weiss, director of the University of Nevada, Reno Sanford Center for Aging, will appear on Reno television several times in coming weeks discussing the present and future challenges posed by an aging population.

Weiss is host Bill Brown's guest this week on the Face the State program on KTVN-TV (Channel 2). The show airs five times this weekend: Saturday, July 28, at 3:32 a.m., 4:42 a.m. and 3 p.m., and Sunday, July 29, at 6:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.

He also is scheduled to appear, along with others, in a report by KTVN's Wendy Damonte on the shortage of primary-care physicians accepting new Medicare patients in northern Nevada. That report is scheduled to air August 1 at 5:30 p.m.

On August 6 Weiss will be Damonte's guest on her weekly Ask the Doctor show, airing from 5 to 6 p.m. Weiss holds a doctorate in health psychology and is an associate professor in the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

The demographic patterns facing the United States have been labeled the Aging Tsunami. The eldest of the baby boomers - the 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964 -
turn 61 this year.

Between 2000 and 2005, Nevada's population of people 65 and older grew by 20 percent, five times the national rate. Elders consume more than 50 percent of all medical resources, yet Nevada ranks at or near the bottom of all states in terms of medical professionals per capita.

Created in 1993, the Sanford Center for Aging develops innovative programs, supports education and research, and partners with community organizations to "add life to years" of Nevada elders.