Dr. Su-I Hou, Professor at the University of Central Florida and Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Health Sciences in Finland, will synthesize findings from 13 WW-FINGERS trials comparing digital and in-person delivery models.

Dr. Seong Hye Choi, Professor at Inha University in South Korea, will share results from the SUPERBRAIN-MEET randomized controlled trial, showing how multidomain interventions delivered through face-to-face and video platforms support individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Dr. Alina Solomon, Professor at the University of Eastern Finland and Scientific Coordinator for WW-FINGERS, will present key updates and lessons learned from ongoing trials, focusing on emerging findings and implementation insights.

Dr. Seong Hye Choi, Professor at Inha University in South Korea, will share results from the SUPERBRAIN-MEET randomized controlled trial, showing how multidomain interventions delivered through face-to-face and video platforms support individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Dr. Raya Kheirbek is a Professor of Medicine and the inaugural Division Head of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her work centers on improving the quality of care for older adults living with serious and advanced illnesses—an approach that aligns perfectly with the growing need for integrated geriatric and palliative care in our aging population. Dr. Kheirbek’s research includes large-scale studies on the oldest old, notably the world’s largest cohort of male centenarians, which has provided valuable insights into longevity and end-of-life care needs. Beyond research, she is deeply committed to education as Program Director of the Geriatric Fellowship at UMD, where she trains the next generation in person-centered, compassionate care. She is also a strong advocate for vulnerable populations, advancing social justice through policy, writing, and public engagement.

Markus Schafer is currently Professor of Sociology and Graduate Program Director at Baylor University. He earned his PhD in Sociology and Gerontology from Purdue University in 2011. His research investigates the intersections of health and aging, specifically the long-term consequences of childhood adversity and how social networks evolve to shape physical, mental, and cognitive health in later life. Schafer’s work has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada) and the Ontario Early Researcher Award program. He currently serves as Deputy Editor of the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences and is a co-editor of the forthcoming Handbook of the Sociology of Aging, 2nd Ed. (Springer).

Yaeji Kim-Knauss received a master’s degree in social welfare from Seoul National University, South Korea, and a PhD in psychogerontology from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany. She is currently working as a senior researcher at the Institute of Psychogerontology at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. Her research focuses on aging preparation, decision making, and end-of-life.

Aija Logren is a social psychologist specializing in interaction research, discursive psychology and conversation analysis. Her work examines how participation, morality, emotion, knowledge and power are negotiated in social and health care encounters. Logren has contributed to research on group counselling, health communication, shared decision making and professional–client interaction, with publications spanning topics such as hope work, group discussions, and the management of stance. She teaches interaction skills particularly for social work and medical students. She is recognized for her expertise in qualitative methods and the analysis of social interaction. Logren earned her doctorate in social sciences in 2019, and has worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University and the University of Helsinki in projects exploring information literacy, affect and decision making in health care encounters. She is now university lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland, and currently studies negotiations considering transition from curative to palliative care.

Yaolin Pei, PhD is a gerontologist who used both qualitative and quantitative methods to study how social psychological factors affect end-of-life decision-making and end-of-life outcomes. She develops culturally adapted educational tools and interventions that facilitate end-of-life decision making and aims to improve end-of-life care outcomes.

Professor Jacqueline Yuen is a geriatrician, palliative care physician, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the School of Clinical Medicine and School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Her research focuses on improving end-of-life care for people with advanced dementia and enhancing serious illness communication with older adults with life-limiting conditions. Prof. Yuen was an Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York from 2012-2016. She served as a Clinical Lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2018, during which she received the University Education Award in recognition of her contributions to medical education. In 2025, she received the HKU Faculty Teaching Medal. She currently serves on the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Professionalism and Ethics Committee, and the Councils of the Hong Kong Geriatrics Society and the Hong Kong Association of Gerontology.

Dr. Tara C. Klinedinst is an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and an occupational therapist. Her research focuses on improving participation, reducing disability, and supporting health self-management among adults with chronic conditions.

Michelle Putnam, PhD, MGS, FGSA is Director of the Gerontology Institute and Professor in the Gerontology Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a BA in History from the University of Michigan, a Master's in Gerontological Studies from Miami University in Ohio, and a PhD in Social Welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles, and served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Public Health in Disabilities at Oregon Health & Sciences University. Dr. Putnam's scholarship focuses on the intersections of aging and disability including how growing older with lifelong and long-term disability is different than aging into disability for the first time in later life and how to build bridges across aging and disability research, policy and practice. She currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Innovation in Aging, a journal of the Gerontological Society of America.

John A. Batsis, MD, FACP, AGSF, FGSA, FTOS, is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in Geriatric Medicine and Nutrition. Dr. Batsis is a geriatrician and clinician researcher who is board certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics, and Obesity Medicine. He provides care in the outpatient and nursing home setting to older adults with obesity, multimorbidity, and frailty. His research focuses on the interplay between fat and muscle in older adults mongst older adults with a goal of improving physical function during weight loss. He also focuses on methods relevant to understanding the heterogeneity of aging. Dr. Batsis is funded by the National Institutes of Health having published over 240 papers. He is co-Chair of the Obesity Section of the Gerontological Society of America and a member of international consortiums including the Global Leadership Initiative for Sarcopenia and the Sarcopenic Obesity Global Leadership Initiative.

Keith Kleszynski, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Research in the Section of Geriatric Medicine in the OUHSC Department of Medicine. Keith is also the Associate Director of the Oklahoma Healthy Aging Initiative. Keith holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oklahoma. He has 15 years of research experience, including conducting research with older Oklahoman adults, American Indian tribes, undocumented Latino immigrants in the U.S., drug court enrollees, and former undocumented Latino immigrants who have returned to Mexico and Latin America. His specialties and research interests involve qualitative research methodologies, population health disparities, geriatric health issues, aging issues, active living, identity, and migration.

Madison Enos is a first-year osteopathic medical student at the University of New England and President of her GSA Student Chapter, with a strong interest in advocating for older adults in healthcare.

Grace Savard is a dual-degree Master of Public Policy and Master of Public Health student at the University of Minnesota.  She is focused on advancing healthy aging through policy, research, and population health.

Layla Katharine Santana is a PhD student in Aging Studies at the University of South Florida and an occupational therapist whose research explores digital engagement, cognition, and innovative approaches to healthy aging.

Dr. Robert Popovian is the Founder of the strategic consulting firm Conquest Advisors. He also serves as Chief Science Policy Officer at the Global Healthy Living Foundation. One of the country’s foremost experts on every significant facet of biopharmaceuticals and the healthcare industry, he is a recognized authority on health economics, policy, government relations, and medical affairs. Dr. Popovian has published extensively and has been cited in the most prominent medical sources and media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Popovian is Chairman of the Board of Councilors at the Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at USC, and an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Rutgers School of Pharmacy. Dr. Popovian completed his Doctorate in Pharmacy and Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy degrees with honors at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Wayne Winegarden is a Sr. Fellow in Business and Economics with the Pacific Research Institute, Director of the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at PRI, and the Principal of Capitol Economic Advisors. Dr. Winegarden’s consulting practice advises clients on the impacts of fiscal and economic policies on business outcomes. His economic research focuses on regulatory, fiscal, macroeconomic, health, and energy policies. In addition to his Southern California News Group column, Dr. Winegarden’s editorials have been published in outlets such as the Orange County Register, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hill. Dr. Winegarden has testified before the U.S. Congress; was previously an economics faculty member at Marymount University; worked as a business economist in Hong Kong and New York City; and worked as a policy economist for policy and trade associations in Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.

Joe Gaugler is the Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care & Aging in the School of Public Health and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is the Director of the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation, Director of the CDC-funded BOLD Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Caregiving, Director of the National Institute on Aging-funded EMBRACE AD/ADRD Roybal and State Alzheimer's Research Support Centers, and Editor-in-Chief of The Gerontologist. His research focuses on dementia care innovation.

Emily M. Agree, PhD, is a Research Professor in the Department of Sociology and the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at Johns Hopkins University and Associate Director of the Hopkins Population Center. Her research focuses on aging, disability, long-term care, family relationships in later life, and the social and demographic factors shaping health and well-being among older adults. Dr. Agree has played a key role in national aging research, including serving on the steering committee for the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a major longitudinal study examining disability and functioning in later life. Her work also explores assistive technologies, caregiving, and how demographic changes affect family support systems for older adults. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Population Association of America and on the editorial boards of several leading journals, including Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences and Research on Aging. Dr. Agree earned her PhD in sociology from Duke University and her MA in demography from Georgetown University. She is also a Fellow of The Gerontological Society of America.

Spero M. Manson, Ph.D. (Little Shell Chippewa) is Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry, occupies the Colorado Trust Chair in American Indian Health, and directs the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health in the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado Denver’s Anschutz Medical Center. His programs include 10 national centers, which pursue research, program development, training, and collaboration with 200 Native communities. Dr. Manson has acquired >$260 million in sponsored research to support this work, and published 300 articles on the assessment, epidemiology, treatment, and prevention of physical, alcohol, drug, as well as mental health problems over the developmental life span of Native people. He has received over 30 national from the NIH, CDC, APHA, AAMC, IHS, numerous professional organizations, and the National Academy of Medicine. He is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s leading authorities regarding Native health.

Marcia G. Ory, PhD, MPH is a Regents and Distinguished Professor and Center for Community Health and Aging Core Faculty at the Texas A&M School of Public Health in the USA. Her research focuses on factors associated with healthy aging and social, behavioral, environmental, and technological solutions for promoting health and well-being across the life course in diverse populations and settings. Committed to translating research to practice and ensuring that all populations can age well, she is a founding member of the National Consortium on RE-AIM Planning and Evaluation Framework (www.re-aim-org). Additionally, she is a co-Lead of the Texas A&M Dementia and Alzheimer’s Research Initiative and engages in research to scale and sustain evidence-based programs to reduce dementia caregiving burdens. Among her many accolades, she’s especially proud to be a Fellow of The Gerontological Society of America.

Dr. Lauren J. Parker, PhD, MPH, is an Associate Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research advances dementia care and support for all families, with a focus on communities who experience higher prevalence and greater risk of dementia. She develops and implements culturally tailored, community-based interventions to ensure that services and resources reach those most in need, with the goal of achieving parity in dementia care. Dr. Parker is Principal Investigator of an NIA-funded K01 study examining biological and psychosocial stress pathways among caregivers and serves as Co-Investigator with the State Alzheimer’s Research Support Center (StARS) and the Implementation Core of the NIA-funded IMPACT Collaboratory. A national leader in dementia caregiving science, Dr. Parker works at the intersection of research, policy, and practice to strengthen support for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

Dr. Sidney M. Stahl served as the Chief of the Individual Behavioral Processes Branch at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1996 until retiring in 2012. He promoted diversity in aging research by creating the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) program and initiating NIA’s research programs on elder abuse. After retiring, he served as elder abuse research consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Administration for Community Living/Administration on Aging. He helped implement part of the Affordable Care Act creating the Cabinet-level Elder Justice Coordinating Council. The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) chose Dr. Stahl as the 2012 recipient of the Donald P. Kent Award. Prior to his career at NIH, he was a professor of medical sociology and social gerontology at Purdue University for over 20 years.

Dr. Block is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah College of Nursing, where her research focuses on improving care for nursing home residents, particularly those living with dementia and experiencing unmet palliative and behavioral health needs. Her work is grounded in her experience as a long-term care nurse, where she observed the complex biopsychosocial challenges residents and families face at the end of life. She uses mixed methods approaches, combining large-scale data analysis with qualitative inquiry to identify patterns in resident symptoms and inform strategies to improve care delivery. Her current research examines indicators of palliative care need and seeks to develop resident- and family-centered interventions that integrate palliative and behavioral health perspectives to improve symptom management at the end of life, supported by funding from the National Institute on Aging and institutional awards.

Dr. Cacchione is the Ralston House Term Chair in Gerontological Nursing, Professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and Nurse Scientist at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. She is a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner who has practiced for over 30 years across the care continuum. She is a nurse innovator. Her research focuses on social robotics for older adults. She is the CEO and Founder of AgingSense, a startup technology company to improve the lives of older adults. Dr Cacchione received her BSN from Villanova University, MSN from Marymount University, and PhD from Saint Louis University. She completed postdoctoral training at the University of Iowa. Dr. Cacchione has over 100 publications and is the Past Editor in Chief of Clinical Nursing Research and International Journal. Dr. Cacchione is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Academy of Nursing.

Jennifer Baumbusch, RN, PhD, FAAN, FCAN is a Professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Nursing and former CIHR Chair in Sex and Gender Science (2020 - 2024). Her expertise is in family caregiving, qualitative research, and knowledge translation. Jennifer is an Associate Editor with the International Journal of Older People Nursing and Co-Editor: Qualitative Research with The Gerontologist. She leads a research program examining health equity in the context of climate change, with a focus on older adults, people with lifelong disabilities, and family caregivers. Learn more about Jennifer’s research here: https://climateresilience.nurs...

Dr. Zuelsdorff is an epidemiologist studying social-to-biological pathways that shape cognitive health and health disparities in older populations. Primary goals of her research program include identifying (1) community-salient dementia risk factors, as well as (2) personal, community, and policy-based resources that promote successful aging, delay impairment, and reduce burden for families and communities.

A national leader in gerontology, Howard Degenholtz specializes in long-term services and supports and home- and community-based services. He developed self-reported quality-of-life measures for nursing home residents and co-authored a seminal paper on the benefits of the Green House model. His research has shown that older adults using consumer-directed personal care are not at increased risk of hospitalization, and he led a randomized trial demonstrating improved quality of life through tailored, individualized care planning. He has also studied end-of-life care in community and nursing home settings, examining advance directives and racial and ethnic disparities, with findings showing that older adults with advance care plans are less likely to experience terminal hospitalization. In organ and tissue donation, he developed and tested approaches to incorporate donor designation into primary care and implemented web-based training in driver’s license centers through randomized trials. He also hosts and produces The Gerontologist Podcast, published by the Gerontological Society of America and available on major podcast platforms.

Dr. Haynes is a professor in the UConn Center on Aging at UConn Health. She has been working in aging and gerontology for over 30 years and her primary focus lies in understanding how the aging process influences the immune system’s ability to respond to infections and vaccinations. This area of study is crucial, given the increased susceptibility of older individuals to infectious diseases and the importance of vaccination in mitigating these risks.

Dr. Kat Britt is an Assistant Professor in Gerontological Nursing at the University of Iowa College of Nursing, a 2024 Butler Williams Scholar, a 2021-2023 Psychology/Mental Health Jonas Scholar, a Geriatric Nursing editorial board member, and serves as the GSA ESPO Vice-Chair Elect and as a Board Member of her local Iowa Chapter Alzheimer’s Association. She completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, obtained her PhD from The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, and her Master’s in informatics from The University of Texas at Tyler. Her research focuses on protective lifestyle factors and cognitive care planning to inform nonpharmacological interventions for persons living with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, and their care partners to slow decline.

Rita X. Hu is a developmental scientist and social worker. She had experiences developing and evaluating culturally responsive services for older immigrant clients of Meals on Wheels and interventions to reduce social isolation among homebound older adults. Dr. Hu received her PhD in Social Work and Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan and her B.A. in Social Welfare and Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sohyun Kim, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she began her tenure-track appointment in 2023. She earned her Ph.D. in Nursing from the University of Iowa in 2022. Her research focuses on leveraging technology-based interventions—including video chat, wearable devices, virtual reality, and home monitoring—to enhance the quality of life for persons living with dementia and the family and professional caregivers who support them. Her current research projects include the *Video Family Visit Intervention for Emotional Well-being (VIEW)* program, which provides individualized weekly video family visits to persons living with dementia and their family members in long-term services and supports and home care settings. She also leads *Virtual Reality Communication Training Optimizing Real-world Interactions (VICTORI)*, an initiative that uses AI-driven simulation to train and empower caregivers to improve communication with persons living with dementia.

Dr. Minzhi Ye, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, a Hispanic-Serving Institution located in the Texas border region. Trained as a sociologist, Dr. Ye’s research focuses on aging, health equity, and the social and structural determinants of well-being among older adults and families, with particular attention to resource-limited communities. Her work examines how digital environments, access barriers, caregiving dynamics, and institutional responses shape health, financial security, and independence in later life. She has published extensively in leading journals on aging and health in the U.S. and internationally.