Putting Professors Out to Pasture

Many investigators working to extend human longevity find themselves bumping up against another kind of mortality--a mandated end to their working lives. But as human life spans continue to rise, researchers say that the rules regarding retirement must keep pace.

At age 75, neuroscientist Masao Ito has pushed off retirement to work as director of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Saitama, Japan. He's not the only elder scientist at the institute. Researchers at public universities in Japan face mandatory retirement at 60, so those who wish to continue working must seek refuge at organizations such as RIKEN that don't impose retirement on their staff.

Japan's laws are not unique. Most countries in the European Union also set compulsory departure ages for public workers, ranging from 60 in France to 67 in Sweden. The ramifications are far-reaching. In many countries, early dismissal of a large portion of the workforce threatens to overburden pension systems. And when the workers being dismissed are researchers, forced retirement can hamper scientific progress.

When it comes to retirement laws, researchers often receive favored status. Many countries grant professors a few years beyond the normal retirement age. For example, the retirement age in Denmark is 70 for professors and 67 for others, says Brian Clark, a molecular biologist at the Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology at the University of Aarhus. A similar situation prevails in Japan. "Researchers and doctors have it much, much better [than other public servants]," says Takeshi Tabira, a neurologist at the National Institute for Longevity Sciences in Aichi. Although Japanese government employees generally must retire at 55, investigators at most public universities can continue until their 60th birthday and physicians can work until age 65.

Scientists might not get thrown in the street when they hit retirement age, but continuing their research can become a challenge. "After [age 70] it is very difficult to obtain money for a grant [in Denmark]," says Clark. And space is at a premium. Some people lose their labs but are permitted to keep an office, he says. "Others are kicked out." In most cases, older researchers are at the mercy of their department chairs, who make decisions about emeritus professors on a case-by-case basis.

Just as aging parents often turn to their children for support in their golden years, many retirement-aged researchers find themselves looking to their scientific progeny for a place where they can continue their work. In the Netherlands, the mandatory retirement age is 65, but "university professors are allowed to grant the title of Ph.D. until the age of 70," says Dick Knook, a gerontologist at the TNO Centre for Ageing Research in Leiden. So some scientists set up shop with their former students and continue to train young people after their own institution hands them their walking papers. Others keep active by collaborating with colleagues, says Clark.

Some highly motivated older researchers simply move on to more welcoming environments. A 1994 amendment to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act outlawed mandatory retirement for scientists in the United States, so many researchers accept academic posts in America when they can no longer work in their native countries. Others flock to Australia or to certain research institutes or universities in Canada, where retirement is also voluntary. Funds are also easier to obtain in America than in Europe. Superstar scientists, such as those with Nobel Prizes under their belts, can usually find a foundation to grant them money in the United States, Clark says. But picking up and relocating to a new country is not an option for everyone. As a result, retirement dates based on an arbitrary age inevitably push some scientists out of the game while they are in their prime.

Research on aging might be especially vulnerable to brain drain from forced retirement laws. "It is not infrequent that highly successful scientists become interested in doing research on the biology of aging and age-related diseases as they approach retirement," says George Martin, a gerontologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, and editor-in-chief of SAGE KE, sister site to SAGE Crossroads. As an example he points to Vernon Ingram, a protein chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who made a name for himself studying hemoglobin's role in sickle cell anemia and then developed an interest in Alzheimer's disease late in his career. Ingram, who at age 79 still teaches and maintains an active lab at MIT, says that older researchers should have the option to continue working if they wish, because the expertise they've accumulated makes them especially valuable as mentors to scientists who are just starting out. Keeping seasoned scientists at the bench could even give the United States and other countries with flexible retirement rules an edge over their European competitors.

The harm that retirement laws might inflict on scientific progress probably won't compel politicians to change the rules--but economics might. Slowing population growth in many developed countries, coupled with longer life expectancies, could soon lead to a situation in which a growing pool of retired people draw funds from pension systems faster than the dwindling supply of young workers can replenish them. "It's a terrible burden for society; that's why income taxes will continue to be high," says Clark. But changes to these rules are inevitable, he says. The retirement age was originally set back when life was hard and people died a few years after leaving work. "Now you live for 20 years [after retirement]," says Clark. Forced retirement might be a blessing for people who dislike their jobs, he says, but few researchers fall into that category.

Still, no one wants to eliminate retirement. "People are happy to be able to work longer, but there's the danger that they have to work longer without enjoying the retired life, so it's a compromise," says Ito. Ingram, for his part, is not waiting for retirement to pursue his passion for photography. He plans to continue working for as long as he's able, and he's grateful to have that choice. After all, some people might want to pack up their belongings and explore the country in a Winnebago, but if others prefer to pipette solutions or mentor multiply pierced grad students, Ingram says they should be left to it.

Christie Aschwanden doubts that freelance writers, like herself, ever retire.