Senior Lecturer, Engineering Systems Division
Director, AgeLab, & New England University Transportation Center,
Center for Transportation and Logistics

Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D. is founding Director of the MIT AgeLab – a multidisciplinary partnership between MIT, industry and the aging community to engineer innovative approaches and technologies to improve the quality of life of older adults and those that care for them. The Lab’s industry sponsors are from around the world and include information technology and telecommunications firms, the food and beverage industry, retailers, pharmaceutical companies, consumer products manufacturers, financial services, medical device firms, and the automotive industry.

Dr. Coughlin’s own research seeks to develop new business and policy strategies that respond to the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s older adults and caregivers. He has published in a variety of business, technology and policy journals. Supported by both The Hartford Financial Services Company and the US Department of Transportation University Transportation Centers Program, he recently co-authored a book with Roger W. Cobb on transportation safety and the mobility needs of an aging society with Johns Hopkins University Press. He is currently editing a second volume with Michael E. Kafrissen on measuring quality of life in older populations and authoring a third book where he shows how business and government will leverage the convergence of technology and evolving boomer lifestyles to reshape how all of us will live, work and play tomorrow. Dr. Coughlin speaks to business and government audiences throughout the world describing the implications of aging and technology on business strategy and public policy. He often serves as a keynote and plenary speaker – including the annual meetings of the American Geriatrics Society, AARP Board of Directors, National Governors Association, National Press Club Foundation, American Telemedicine Association, Health Insurance Association of America, The Freedom Forum, National Home Builders Association, American Senior Housing Association, COMDEX, the White House Conference on Technology and Aging and US Senate Committee on Aging.

He conducts research and consults regularly on strategy and innovation to a wide range of firms across industries, including the AARP, Alzheimer’s Association, AT&T, IBM and the American Business Collaborative for Quality Dependent Care, Ace Insurance, Bell Canada, BMW, EDS, DaimlerChrysler, Johnson & Johnson, MasterFoods, MetLife, Motorola, Nissan, Procter & Gamble, RAND, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He is a Board member of the American Geriatrics Society Foundation for Healthy Aging, DaimlerChrysler’s Technology Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences Steering Committee on Technology for Adaptive Aging and leads the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development’s (OECD) Working Group on Technology and Older Persons. Dr. Coughlin teaches strategic management and public policy in the Engineering Systems Division at MIT. Prior to joining MIT he was with EG&G, (now PerkinElmer), a Fortune 1000 science and technology firm, consulting to industry and government worldwide. Dr. Coughlin is a graduate of the State University of New York, Brown University and Boston University.

News and announcements:

Joe Coughlin addresses the National Investment Center for Senior Housing & Care (September 22, 2008)

Joe Coughlin interviewed on new product design for old age in New York Times (September 4, 2008)

Senior Lecturer and AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin in a Boston Globe article about issues facing the Boomer generation (July 30, 2008)

New York Times: AgeLab Director Joe Coughlin says "the driving experience is about to become profoundly personal" – As the Roads Turn Gray, Ways to Make Driving Safer (June 23, 2008)

Wired writes about the AgeLab's "Aware Car" and Director Joseph Coughlin (June 6, 2008)

ESD’s Joe Coughlin keynotes UCLA Conference on Technology and Aging (May 13, 2008)

Joe Coughlin delivers Massachusetts General Hospital Grand Rounds lecture on aging, technology and health systems innovation (May 5, 2008)

AgeLab Director Joe Coughlin named Hero in Home HealthCare (April 17, 2008)

Wall Street Journal names AgeLab's Dr. Joe Coughlin among "12 People Who are Changing the Future of Your Retirement" (February 18, 2008)

MIT AgeLab Preparing for a New Tomorrow (February 12, 2008)

AgeLab's Joe Coughlin featured in Chicago Tribune (January 29, 2008)

AgeLab's Joe Coughin quoted in NY Times: Six Decades at the Center of Attention, and Counting (January 7, 2008)

Swiss Re's Centre for Global Dialogue: Dr. Joseph Coughlin on Technology and the Future of Aging (.pdf 7.4mb) (October 1, 2007)

Retiring: In Pursuit of The Future (September 28, 2007)

"Can you spot the P.C.A.?" MIT AgeLab's Joe Coughlin weighs in on personal communication assistants (.pdf) (August 8, 2007)

AgeLab’s Joseph Coughlin Speaks at 2007 MIT Healthcare Industries Conference (May 11, 2007)

Joseph Coughlin served as keynote at the Focalyst Executive Forum (December 18, 2006)

AgeLab Director Dr. Joseph Coughlin delivers plenary keynote at World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress (November 6, 2006)

AgeLab's Joe Coughlin keynotes at Aging and Technology conference (June 16, 2006)

Joe Coughlin in WSJ (September 28, 2005)

Joe Coughlin Appointed to White House Conference on Aging (May 20, 2005)

Joe Coughlin and Newt Gingrich co-chaired the Emerging Technologies and Healthcare Innovations Congress Leadership Forum (December 2, 2004)

AgeLab’s Joe Coughlin Testifies at U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging (May 2, 2004)

Joe Coughlin addresses the National Governors Association (February 23, 2004)

MIT AgeLab Director Joe Coughlin Named Finalist in New England Business and Technology Association Awards Program (July 2003)

AgeLab’s Joe Coughlin delivers plenary address at American Telemedicine Association Annual Meeting (July 2003)

MIT AgeLab Founder Joe Coughlin Honored with Telly Award (April 2003)