Iowa City Mayor heading to Washington D.C. for White House panel on aging

IOWA CITY - Iowa City Mayor Matt Hayek will join others from across the country to take part in a panel discussion at the 2015 White House Conference on Aging.

Hayek will represent Iowa City at the Monday conference, which will include four other panelists to discuss topics related to healthy aging in America, according to a news release.

The panel will be directed by Michael Smith, chief medical editor of WebMD and panelists will include Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States; motivational speaker and author Diana Nyad; Kevin Washington, president and CEO of YMCA of the USA; and Fernando Torres-Gil, author and Director of the Center for Policy Research on Aging at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Topics of discussion will include promoting health and preventing disease and injury; optimizing cognitive and behavioral health and maximizing independence in homes and communities.

Hayek will discuss the steps that Iowa City has taken to support healthy aging in the community.

Iowa City was ranked number one in the Top 20 Small Metros category in a Milken Institute survey on Best Cities for Successful Aging.

The conference will run from 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. Monday and be streameed on the White House website.