Thomas Eagen, MPH, PhD, is a Senior Health Policy Advisor in the Office of the Chair, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for the US Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. His portfolio of work includes the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. Previously, he was Health Policy Director at National Center for Health Research. In this role, he focused on the impact of federal health policy to improve quality of care for all patient populations, and was responsible for tracking active legislation and engaging with Members of Congress and Congressional staff to serve as a resource and ensure policies are supported by research. Dr. Eagen completed his PhD in Rehabilitation Science and MPH in Health Systems and Policy at the University of Washington. Dr. Eagen has focused on the overall reach and effectiveness of evidence-based fall prevention programs designed for community-dwelling older adults supported by federal funding. Specifically, he has explored the participation of people with disabilities in evidence-based falls prevention programs. His research has sought to identify the individuals at the greatest risk for adverse events, which factors contribute to adverse events, and which programs successfully reduce this risk among vulnerable populations.

Maureen Henry, JD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, with appointments in the Columbia Aging Center and the Health Policy and Management Department. She is the Deputy Director of the International Longevity Center-USA and serves as a Senior Advisor to the Health and Aging Policy Fellows. In her current role, she is involved in developing recommendations for the New York State Master Plan on Aging, and is collaborating on international efforts to respect the rights of older persons. She was a Health and Aging Policy Fellow in the office of Senator Mark Warner of Virginia in 2012-2013. Before her current roles, Dr. Henry was the Study Director and Lead Writer for the National Academy of Medicine’s Global Roadmap for Healthy Longevity report. Before joining NAM, she spent five years focused on value based care, person-centered care and health care quality measurement focused on older people’s priorities. From 2005 to 2012, Dr. Henry worked as an appointee of two governors in the State of Utah, directing the Utah Commission on Aging for seven year. Her role included community education, professional education, and using consensus processes to develop successful legislative proposals, including loan forgiveness for geriatric health care professionals, adding the POLST form to statute, and restructuring the state’s advance care planning statute. During that period, she entered and completed a PhD program at the University of Utah Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence focused on decision-making by older people with dementia. Before shifting to health and aging policy, Dr. Henry used her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, as an appellate judicial clerk, commercial litigator, and elder law attorney. She has been interested in what happens at the intersection of ethics, law, policy, and medicine, especially when applied to vulnerable populations, for most of her adult life.

Karon L. Phillips, MPH, PhD, CHES, FGSA is the Policy Development Manager at Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), where she works with the Policy Development team on the age-friendly public health systems initiative. Dr. Phillips has been engaged with the field of aging for over 20 years. Most recently she served as the Program Manager for USAging. In this role, she developed content and resources for enGAGED, The National Resource Center for Engaging Older Adults. Prior to her work at USAging, she served as a Scientific Review Officer contractor for the Center for Scientific  Review at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In this position, she supported the scientific review of research grant applications made to the NIH. She also has experience leading the implementation of programs and services focused on health promotion, including chronic disease self-management and falls prevention, and developing new partnerships to provide community -based services to older adults. Dr. Phillips received her undergraduate degree in English and Women’s Studies from Cornell University and earned her Master of Public Health degree and PhD in Aging Studies from the University of South Florida. She currently holds leadership positions with the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the American Public Health Association. She is also fellow of GSA.