Jane Gross is a former New York Times journalist, and an expert on aging science. Her 29 years career at The New York Times gave her the opportunity to work side-by-side with a generation of journalistic giants and herself cover an array of historic events and social developments. Among them were the early days of the AIDs epidemic, the advent of crack cocaine, the explosion of autism, the last major earthquakes in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, the riots surrounding the Rodney King verdict, coverage of 911 (including a major role in The New York Times' prize winning "Portraits in Grief'') and also its award-winning series "Children of the Shadows." These assignments led to a half dozen Pulitzer Prize nominations and other awards. ^[1]