Dr. Tetyana Shippee is a Professor in the Division of Health Policy and Management at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. She also serves as Associate Director for Research at the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation and as Co-Director of the K12 Scholar Career Development Program with the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. An expert in social gerontology and a health services researcher, Dr. Shippee holds a dual PhD in Gerontology and Sociology. Her research focuses on two main areas: 1) improving quality of life (QOL) and other person-reported outcomes among older adults using long-term services and supports, and 2) analyzing patterns and contributors to inequities in long-term care quality among diverse populations of older adults. A growing portion of her work addresses care quality for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD), with particular attention to quality of life and caregiver support.

Dr. Degenholtz is Professor of Health Policy and Management and Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Bioethics and Health Law.  He was the Founding Director of the Doctoral Program in Health Services Research and Policy.  Dr. Degenholtz is a health services researcher who focuses on long-term care and aging and organ donation. He is currently the lead for a seven-year evaluation of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Community HealthChoices program. He is a member of AcademyHealth and a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America.  He is the Social Media Editor of The Gerontologist, Associate Editor for LTSS of Innovation in Aging and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

Ahmed is a patient-centered, collaborative, and highly motivated scientist-pharmacist with strong experience in neuroscience biomedical research. Ahmed earned his Pharmacy degree from the School of Pharmacy at Al-Azhar University in Cairo in 2016 where his research was focused on medicinal chemistry and drug development. Following Pharmacy school, Ahmed joined the biomedical sciences PhD program at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he worked under the supervision of Dr. Orly Lazarov. During his PhD, Ahmed studied the extent of hippocampal neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease patients and its impact on their learning and memory. After successfully completing his PhD, Ahmed joined the CBC as an entrepreneurial fellow where he aims to close the knowledge gap between the bench and the pharmaceutical market and build a strong biotech ecosystem in the Chicagoland area.

Emily A. Greenfield, PhD, FGSA, is a Professor of Social Work at Rutgers University and Founding Director of the Rutgers Hub for Aging Collaboration. Her scholarship seeks to bolster community-centered approaches for advancing innovation and equity in social programs for long and healthy lives. Her work has helped to accelerate 21st-century models for aging in community, including age- and dementia-friendly community initiatives, housing-based supportive service programs, and the Village Movement. Hallmark features of her scholarship include fostering cross-sectoral partnerships and elevating the voices of grassroots leaders. She also champions aging within higher education, such as by launching the Hub for Aging Collaboration to amplify work on aging across disciplines and to bolster opportunities for enhanced social work training on aging and older adults.

Brianna is a Geriatric and Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner with over a decade of nursing experience caring for older adults living with serious illnesses, including dementia and cancer. Dr. Morgan has a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Basis of Behavior (2008), a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (2012), a Masters in Adult and Gerontological Primary Care with a minor in Palliative Care (2015), and a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing Science (2022) all from the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds an Advanced Certification in Hospice and Palliative Nursing® and was named an Emerging Leader by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Foundation in 2022. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU Grossman School of Medicine where she is exploring supportive care interventions for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and their care partners. She is also a Geriatric and Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner at NYU Langone Health.

Nathan LeBrasseur, PT, PhD, holds the Noaber Foundation Professorship in Aging Research and has appointments in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Department of Physiology and Biomedical Engineering at Mayo Clinic. He is the Director of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging and the Co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Mayo Clinic. His latest research has centered on cellular senescence, a fundamental mechanism of aging, and interventions to counter this process to extend healthspan. Dr. LeBrasseur has received the Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging, the Nathan W. Shock Award Lecture from the National Institute on Aging, and the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research from the American Federation for Aging Research. He is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

Maria Carranza, PhD, is a program officer specializing in training and career development in the Division of Extramural Activities at the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Carranza serves as the primary point of contact for policies, goals, and processes related to NIA’s individual and institutional training and career development funding opportunities. She manages a variety of programs, including Diversity, Re-Entry and Re-integration, and Continuity and Retention Supplements. After 12 years as a university professor, she joined the National Science Foundation, where she worked with NSF INCLUDES, a comprehensive, national initiative to broaden participation in STEM fields at scale. Dr. Carranza earned a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Baylor University, and conducted postdoctoral studies at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute.

Brian Lindberg is a Washington, DC-based advocate, policy educator, and lobbyist. He serves as a public policy advisor to several organizations, including the Gerontological Society of America and the National Association for Geriatric Education. Brian has served on many boards and advisory panels, including for the Institute of Medicine, CMS, NAIC, and the Planning Committee for the National Quality Forum (appointed by Vice President Gore). Currently, Brian serves on the Board of Visitors of the College of Public Health at Temple University. Brian worked in Congress for ten years on the House Select Committee on Aging and the Senate Special Committee on Aging. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Temple University and a Master’s degree in Management of Human Services from Brandeis University. He studied at the University of Stockholm’s International Graduate School.

Natalie leads Justice in Aging’s legislative and administrative health care advocacy in Washington, DC. Since joining Justice in Aging in 2017, Natalie has been advocating to strengthen health care programs that help older adults live at home and stay connected to their communities. Natalie holds a JD with a Certificate in Health Law from Saint Louis University and a BS in Economics from the University of Wyoming.

Jordan P. Lewis is Aleut and Sugpiaq, and his family is from the Naknek Native Village in southwest Alaska and Cannon Beach, Oregon. He is the Director of Research for the Center for One Health Research and a Research Professor with the College of Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He holds a Ph.D. in Community Psychology from UAF, an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BSW from UAF, and is a certified professional gerontologist. Trained as a cross-cultural community psychologist and gerontologist, Jordan has worked with American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities to identify characteristics that enable Alaska Native Elders to age successfully, or age in a good way, and become role models for their families and communities. Using the lessons and experiences of AIAN Elders, Jordan’s research develops generative-based approaches to improve the health of all generations.

Professor Feliciano Villar, PhD, is a developmental psychologist at the University of Barcelona. His main research interest is to explore and promote the contributions of older people to their communities and families, using the concept of generativity in later life. He is currently researching which generative expressions are more common among older people, both in successful and not-so-successful (what could be called ‘aging on the margins’) older people collectives, and what their impacts are in terms of personal growth and social development. He has directed more than 10 research projects funded by competitive national and European calls. He has published more than 100 papers in international academic journals based on his research. He has recently co-authored a book titled 'The development of generativity across the life span’, published by Oxford University Press. He is also the coordinator of the Master's degree on Psychologerontology of the University of Barcelona.

Dr. Heather Farmer is an Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Delaware. She received her Ph.D. in Biobehavioral Health with specialization in Demography from Penn State University and completed an NIA-funded T32 in Aging and Human Development at Duke University. Her research incorporates theory spanning multiple disciplines, biomarker data, and longitudinal analyses to understand social stratification and health in mid- to later life. Her research covers three complementary themes: 1) understanding whether and how psychosocial stress and coping are associated with health in adulthood; 2) exploring biopsychosocial mechanisms associated with health inequities across the life course; and 3) highlighting heterogeneity in health and well-being using a “within-groups” framework.

Dr. Angela Groves is an Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University and an early-stage nursing researcher focused on aging, cardiovascular health, and health disparities. Her work centers on improving low-sodium dietary behaviors and blood pressure control among older African American women with hypertension. Dr. Groves has led several feasibility studies examining culturally tailored interventions, including the DASH diet and dyadic (peer) support models. She has published multiple peer-reviewed articles and presented nationally on her research. She is a participant in the NIH-funded PRIDE-CVD program and the University of Michigan's MIWI Training Program. Her efforts have been supported by grants from the Daisy Foundation and Western Michigan University.

Dr. Skipper is an assistant professor of Gerontology at Georgia State University specializing in strong African American marriages, religion, spirituality and health, health disparities, and stress and coping. Dr. Skipper’s research largely involves examining the relationships, religiosity, and health of African Americans across the life course. As a member of the American Families of Faith Project, he conducts in-depth interviews with enduring African American couples from various religious backgrounds, with the goal to understand the religious processes that contribute to marital stability. In addition, his work adopts strength-focused approaches to highlighting social factors, such as dyadic support and fictive kin, as determinants of health for older African Americans.

Patricia M. D’Antonio, BSPharm, MS, MBA, BCGP, is the Vice President of Policy and Professional Affairs for the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a board-certified geriatric pharmacist. Ms. D’Antonio directs GSA’s policy initiatives and is responsible for developing relationships with organizations in the aging arena. She represents GSA on several policy coalitions and serves as co-chair for the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition, president of the board of Protecting Access to Pain Relief, and a member of the steering committee for several federally focused coalitions. Ms. D’Antonio is also the executive director for the National Center to Reframe Aging, the central hub to advance the long-term social change endeavor designed to improve the public’s understanding of what aging means and the many ways that older people contribute to our society. Before joining GSA, Trish was the executive director for the District of Columbia Board of Pharmacy and program manager for the Pharmaceutical Control Division, where she was responsible for the regulatory and policy development for the practice of pharmacy and safe handling of medications in the District.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Duquesne University and her Master of Science in Health Finance and Master in Business Administration with a concentration in health care from Temple University. She completed a residency in administration and finance at The Philadelphia Geriatric Center.  

Dr. Ernest Gonzales is an Associate Professor and the James Weldon Johnson Professor at New York University, where he leads The Center for Health and Aging Innovation, the Healthy Aging Specialization in Social Work, and the Grand Challenge on Advancing a Long, Healthy, and Productive Life. He is a scholar in the areas of productive aging (employment, volunteering, and caregiving), equity, discrimination, intergenerational scholarship, and social policy. His research advances our understanding of social structures that optimize the ability to live a long, healthy, and meaningful life.

Helen Nguyen-Pham is a Master of Arts student in Gerontology at San Francisco State University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Education from Mount Holyoke College. With experience spanning healthcare and aging services, Helen brings a multidisciplinary approach to advancing the well-being and dignity of aging populations. She has worked closely with older adults as an In-Home Supportive Services care provider, dental assistant, and long-time community volunteer at Vi at Palo Alto (CCRC). Helen also contributed to the start-up of an internal medicine clinic focused on delivering culturally responsive care to Southeast Asian communities during the post-COVID recovery period. Her academic and professional interests focus on promoting equitable aging, elder justice, and mental health access. With research training from the Stanford Psychophysiology Laboratory and independent study on first-generation college students, Helen is dedicated to connecting research, advocacy, and hands-on practice to build more supportive and age-friendly communities.

Dr. Anna MacKay-Brandt is a clinical psychologist with specialized training in neuropsychology and geriatrics. She earned her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, and completed her clinical internship at the Warren Alpert Brown Medical School. As a postdoctoral fellow with the Taub Institute at Columbia University, her research focused on cognitive and functional change associated with normative aging and interventional approaches to optimize cognition. She is a Research Scientist at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and directs the Brain Aging and Mental Health laboratory where she collaborates with a multidisciplinary team on open-science neuroimaging initiatives and translational applications of cognitive neuroscience. In private practice, she combines clinical neuropsychological assessment with emerging research to help clients optimize cognitive performance. Her current work explores the central autonomic nervous system's role in attention and self-regulation, aiming to develop personalized strategies that support cognitive health and functional performance across the lifespan.

Jordan P. Lewis is Aleut and Sugpiaq, and his family is from the Naknek Native Village in southwest Alaska and Cannon Beach, Oregon. He is the Director of Research for the Center for One Health Research and a Research Professor with the College of Indigenous Studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He holds a Ph.D. in Community Psychology from UAF, an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BSW from UAF, and is a certified professional gerontologist. Trained as a cross-cultural community psychologist and gerontologist, Jordan has worked with American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities to identify characteristics that enable Alaska Native Elders to age successfully, or age in a good way, and become role models for their families and communities. Using the lessons and experiences of AIAN Elders, Jordan’s research develops generative-based approaches to improve the health of all generations.

Sarah Neller, PhD, APRN, AGPCNP-BC is an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Tennessee. She is a committed gerontologist, adult-gerontology primary care nurse practitioner, and nurse scientist with a vision to advance research that promotes healthy aging by fostering well-being, intentional living, and life engagement among older adults. Dr. Neller’s work explores the cultivation of generativity and the concept of leaving a legacy of values to enhance social and communal engagement for older adults, ultimately helping them find purpose and remain actively involved in their communities as they age. Through her work and community engagement, Dr. Neller is dedicated to promoting healthy longevity and improving the quality of life for older adults.

David Almeida is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies and a faculty member of the Center for Healthy Aging at Penn State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Victoria. Dr. Almeida’s research examines the effects of biological and self-reported indicators of stress on health. His primary interest has been the role of daily stress on healthy aging, but he has also examined stress processes in specific populations and contexts, such as the workplace and family interactions, parents of children with developmental disabilities, and family caregivers. Dr. Almeida has held leadership roles in three National Institutes of Health Research Initiatives, including: the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study; the Work, Family & Health Research Network; and the Science of Behavior Change Network. He is also the Director of a National Institute of Aging T32 training program on Psychosocial and Biological Pathways to Healthy Aging.

María P. Aranda, PhD, MSW, MPA, LCSW, is an internationally recognized social worker and sociobehavioral scholar in the fields of social work, gerontology, and health equity. She is Professor of Social Work with a joint appointment in Gerontology at the University of Southern California. She holds the Margaret W. Driscoll/Louise M. Clevenger Professorship in Social Policy and Administration. Dr. Aranda specializes in the area of medical and psychiatric comorbidity in adult and older adult populations, specifically in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease, depression, psychosocial interventions for individuals and family care partners, health disparities, and ADRD. Dr. Aranda is the Executive Director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging. She has extensive experience in randomized trials, ethnographic methods, large-scale epidemiological research, stakeholder engagement, and innovative recruitment and retention protocols with underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the US and international populations.

Dr. Camacho earned his PhD in Social Work in Advanced Clinical Practice at Columbia University. His postdoctoral training is in Behavioral Geriatrics from the Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine. Dr. Camacho’s research focuses on developing and testing strategies that enhance the prevention and management of prevalent and morbid conditions associated with aging (e.g., chronic pain, loneliness, cognitive impairment) among Latino (Hispanic/Latinx) and other minoritized older adults. His work has been supported by the Council on Social Work Education Minority Fellowship Program, Columbia Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Alzheimer’s Disease Disparities, Cornell’s Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life, Clin-Star, and the National Institute on Aging. His research is informed by his extensive direct clinical practice as a bilingual (English/Spanish) and bicultural (Mexican and American) clinical social worker, as well as his personal experiences as a caregiver.

Catherine Cheng, PhD, is a Toxicologist at Procter & Gamble, where she supports consumer safety within the Global Product Stewardship organization. Her previous roles include pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory affairs. Dr. Cheng holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and completed her doctoral research in the Biology of Aging at the Barshop Institute in UT Health San Antonio; her research focused on sex-specific and age-related responses to pharmacological agents in lifespan studies conducted by the NIA Interventions Testing Program.

James F. Nelson, PhD, FGSA, is a professor of cellular and integrative physiology at the Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Nelson’s research aims to understand the genetic and physiological basis for aging, using nutritional and pharmacologic interventions. Eight of his more than 110 publications have been cited between 500 and 4,100 times. His early work focused on female reproductive aging in mice and humans, with findings that continue to be highly cited. His studies of dietary restriction have identified an important role of hyperadrenocorticism in its anti-aging effects as well as striking genetic variation in its ability to extend lifespan. For over two decades, he has participated in the National Institute on Aging Interventions Testing Program (ITP), which has identified 13 drugs that increase longevity in genetically heterogeneous mice. Many of these compounds are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for other purposes. Dr. Nelson’s current work, analyzing the enormous lifespan dataset of the ITP, has uncovered striking sex differences in the life-extending efficacy of those drugs as well as in the age-specific mortality of the untreated mice that remarkably parallels that of humans. A major focus is to understand the biological bases for these sex differences in aging and drug efficacy, with the long-term goal of improving the lives of all of us as we grow older. Mentoring the next generation of geroscientists is a passion, manifest by his directorship of a PhD training program and the number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows he has mentored. 

Dr. Nancy Sin is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. She received her PhD from the University of California, Riverside, and completed postdoctoral fellowships in geriatrics at UC San Francisco and gerontology at The Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on the biological, psychological, and behavioral pathways that link daily well-being and stress to downstream health and aging outcomes. She is an active GSA member and has held leadership roles in the American Psychological Association (Division 20) and the Society for Biopsychosocial Science and Medicine. In recognition of her scientific contributions, Dr. Sin was awarded the American Psychological Association’s Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Research on Adult Development and Aging, the Michael Smith Health Research Scholar Award, and the Innovative Research on Aging Award from the Mather Institute. Dr. Sin established the Diversity Mentorship Program at UBC, which provides mentorship and professional development support for students from diverse, under-resourced, traditionally underrepresented, and/or marginalized backgrounds.

Dr. Soomi Lee is an associate professor of Aging Studies at Penn State. She is a developmental and behavioral health scientist interested in sleep, pain, and lifestyle factors that underlie healthy aging. Dr. Lee has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles in these topic areas. She is an associate editor of the National Sleep Foundation’s journal, Sleep Health, and serves on the editorial board of SLEEP. In honor of her contributions to the field of aging, Dr. Lee received the Springer Early Career Achievement Award by the American Psychological Association. Her work has been supported by multiple external funding mechanisms. For example, she received an NHLBI R01 award to examine longitudinal relationships between sleep health profiles and chronic pain mediated by social lifestyles and stress-related inflammation. This was to extend her prior R56 project funded by NIA that identified different sleep health profiles in relation to cardiovascular and cognitive health.

David Chiriboga received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1972, but was appointed to the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco in 1969. After leaving the latter institution in 1986 to become director of a gerontology center at San Jose State University, he joined the University of Texas Medical Branch, where he served as professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion and Gerontology. From 2001 to 2023, he was a professor at the University of South Florida, where he currently holds an emeritus appointment. Dr. Chiriboga’s research has focused primarily on the measurement of varying types of stressor conditions, especially in disadvantaged populations. Topics included normative and non-normative transitions, caregiving to persons with Alzheimer’s disease, and immigration. He joined GSA in the 1960s.

Professor Wilber is director of the Secure Old Age lab, co-director of the USC Family Caregiver Support Center, and co-director of the USC Center on Elder Justice. Her research focuses on improving outcomes and quality of life for vulnerable older adults, adults with disabilities, and family caregivers. Focusing on adults with chronic illness, disability, cognitive impairment, and/or economic insecurity, her research includes studies on: 1) financial and workplace security for family caregivers, 2) the effectiveness of caregiver social support and psychoeducational interventions to prevent elder mistreatment, 3) person centered approaches in health care, social services, and protective services, 4) the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of multi-disciplinary teams to address elder mistreatment, and 3) the prevalence of elder mistreatment.

Steven H. Zarit is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Human Development and Family Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. He is a pioneer in research on family caregivers of persons with dementia. His research includes evaluation of psychosocial interventions for persons with dementia and family relationships across the life span. He has been a GSA member since 1972.