Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, MD MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Section of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the University of Chicago. As a clinician investigator and NIA K23 recipient, her research has focused on understanding how objectively measured activity and sedentary behavior patterns, resting metabolic rate, and body composition relate to frailty progression and frailty-related outcomes. Through her work, she analyzes accelerometry data to assess and trend activity patterns as markers of frailty. In partnership with NORC and Orbita, Inc, Dr. Huisingh-Scheetz also developed and is studying the impact of EngAGE, a technology-based tool utilizing a voice assistant to deliver exercise programming to older adults in their home to reduce frailty. The program leverages caregivers to provide social motivation to the older adult to simultaneously combat loneliness. She also helped establish and now co-directs the Successful Aging and Frailty Evaluation™ (SAFE) clinic in which she assesses and manages frail older adults in consultation. 

Patricia D’Antonio is the Vice President of Policy and Professional Affairs for The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a board-certified geriatric pharmacist. Trish directs GSA’s policy initiatives and is responsible for developing relationships with organizations in the aging arena.  

Trish represents GSA on several policy coalitions and serves as co-chair for the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition, president of the board of the Protecting Access to Pain Relief. Additionally, she serves as 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 served as 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 served as liaison to the FDA, DEA, and other federal, state, and city organizations that promote safe handling of medications. A Pennsylvania native, 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.

Jeein Jang is a third-year PhD student in the Gerontology Department at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s in Public Policy and Social Policy from the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management. Jeein's research centers on aging policies that promote equitable and healthy aging, with a particular focus on underrepresented populations. Specifically, she investigates the role of neighborhood environments in shaping population-level racial and ethnic health inequalities and collective behaviors among older adults.

Samuel Van Vleet is a 4th year doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and Gerontology at Miami University. His research focuses on the role of social inequity in determining later life outcomes for marginalized older adult populations. Samuel holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Applied Gerontology and a Master’s degree in Gerontological Studies. His dissertation examines the impact of gentrification on later-life displacement of marginalized older adults in historically redlined areas. This research fills a critical gap by exploring the intersection of gerontology and spatial justice, providing insights that inform policy and community planning to protect older adults from displacement. Outside academia, Samuel advocates for social justice through documentary filmmaking and community outreach programs.

Kalisha Bonds Johnson, PhD, RN, is an assistant professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She is also a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner at Emory University Integrated Memory Care, a primary care clinic tailored to the care of persons living with dementia and their families. Dr. Bonds Johnson is the Principal Investigator of the DECIDE Research Lab at Emory University, which focuses on creating culturally tailored decision-making programs to improve the quality of life of families of African American persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She graduated from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a bachelor of science in nursing in 2007, earned a master of science in nursing from Vanderbilt University in 2012, and received her doctoral degree from Oregon Health & Science University in 2019. In 2021, Dr. Bonds Johnson completed her postdoctoral training at Emory University. Her research focuses on improving the quality of life of African American persons living with dementia and their family care partners, as well as improving the communication between these families and their primary care providers.

Brianna Morgan, PhD, CRNP, is a geriatric and palliative care nurse practitioner at New York University (NYU) Langone Health. She also 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. Dr. Morgan has over a decade of nursing experience caring for older adults living with serious illnesses, including dementia, cancer, and severe brain injury. She earned her bachelor of arts in the biological basis of behavior (2008), bachelor of science in nursing (2012), master’s degree in adult and gerontological primary care with a minor in palliative care (2015), and 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. Dr. Morgan is a member of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association and she is Chair of the Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization in the Gerontological Society of America. Additionally, she has served as the course director for a graduate program class on Health Care in an Aging Society (2016–2019) and currently guest lectures in several courses across all academic programs at Penn Nursing.

Cal Halvorsen, PhD, MSW, is an associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, a project lead and investigator at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Center for Work, Health, and Well-Being, and a research affiliate at the Karolinska Institute Unit of Occupational Medicine in Stockholm. Dr. Halvorsen is a gerontological social work scholar whose research is at the confluence of aging societies, paid and unpaid work, and social purpose and impact. He has expertise in self-employment, job-training programs, volunteering in later life, and intergenerational initiatives. His research has been funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Institutes of Health, AmeriCorps, AARP, and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. 

Glenna Brewster Glasgow, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, is an assistant professor at the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. Her research primarily focuses on two key areas: (1) understanding, tailoring, and developing dyadic behavioral interventions to address the sleep challenges faced by persons with cognitive impairment and their care partners, and (2) psychoeducational interventions for caregivers of persons with dementia in the Caribbean. Dr. Brewster is currently funded by the National Institute on Aging and holds key leadership positions with the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Association. She received her PhD in nursing science from the University of South Florida and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. 

Lindsay Kobayashi, PhD, is an associate professor of epidemiology and global public health at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the social epidemiology of cognitive aging from a global perspective. Dr. Kobayashi investigates social and economic life course influences on cognitive aging, primarily using data from internationally harmonized longitudinal studies of aging, including older populations of the United States, England, India, China, Mexico, and South Africa. At the University of Michigan, she is a member of the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, the Rogel Cancer Center, and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. In recognition of her contributions to the social epidemiology of cognitive aging in rural South Africa, she is an Honorary Senior Researcher at the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit (Agincourt) at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. 

Jamie Justice, PhD, is Executive Director of XPRIZE Healthspan Prize and Executive Vice President of Health Domain at XPRIZE Foundation. At Wake Forest University School of Medicine, she is an adjunct assistant professor of internal medicine in the Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and Jarrahi Fund in Geroscience Innovation, the Vincent Cristofalo Rising Star Award in Aging Research, and the National Institute on Aging Nathan Shock Award. She is dedicated to geroscience which advances the hypothesis that by targeting the basic biology of aging, the incidence of multiple age-related diseases can be delayed or prevented. As Executive Director of XPRIZE Healthspan, Dr. Justice operates a $101 million global competition to incentivize teams from around the world to develop and translate innovative therapeutic solutions that make healthy human aging possible. 

Dr. Bowers’ research focuses on frail, older adults and people with lifelong disabilities, in both community and residential settings. She is interested in how public policies, organizational practices and models of care delivery influence quality of care and quality of work life for caregivers. Her interest in work life quality for workers in long term care systems has led her to examine causes of staff turnover, the relationships among organizational structure, organizational culture, management practices, and care outcomes, and to explore ways to improve the effectiveness of staff development. Her work with informal caregivers at home has led to the development of tools to provide anticipatory guidance and support caregiver decision making. Professor Bowers is the founding director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Aging Research and Education. 

Dr. Wing is Dean and Professor of the Florida State University College of Nursing, and Adjunct Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She serves as the Board of Trustee at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and HCA Florida Capitol Hospital. She’s committed to nursing workforce development and High Tech High Touch approach in nursing education, research, and collaborative practice. Her interdisciplinary research uses mobile and connected health technologies to optimize multiple-behavior lifestyle interventions and improve patient-centered outcomes among the chronically ill and aging populations with multiple chronic conditions, especially among the rural and underserved populations 

Dr. Kennedy is a Health Science Specialist at the VA Providence Healthcare System's THRIVE-COIN. Her research examines the organizational and leadership factors that impact workforce and resident outcomes. In her presentation, Dr. Kennedy will explore the critical role of leadership in workforce research and practice. She will present findings from her partnered research with Veterans Health Administration Community Living Centers (CLCs) and offer insights on how to collaborate with nursing executives and managers to successfully implement health workforce research. 

Jessica is a Research and Evaluation Associate at PHI, where she focuses on improving the quality of jobs for direct care workers and long-term services. Her presentation will provide an overview of the demographic makeup of the direct care workforce and the challenges they face, while highlighting PHI's framework for achieving quality jobs in the sector. She will share state-level progress and policy examples from PHI's work to promote better jobs and care. 

With over two decades of experience in long-term care, Dr. Schwartz is the founder of Workforce & Quality Innovations (WQI). She specializes in workforce initiatives, including recruitment, education, and retention strategies for LTC staff. Her presentation will focus on practical recommendations for translating workforce research into policy and practice, highlighting initiatives that help recruit and retain staff.