Cal J. Halvorsen, PhD, MSW is gerontological social work researcher who focuses on the productive engagement of older adults, particularly through paid work, volunteering, and intergenerational initiatives. He is an associate professor at both the Brown School and Burksy School of Public Health, and the co-director of the Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging, at Washington University in St. Louis. He is also a project lead and investigator within the Center for Work, Health, & Well-being at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and a research affiliate within the Unit of Occupational Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Within GSA, Cal is the vice chair of the Social Research, Practice, and Policy section.

Patricia Oh directs Community Engaged Research at the UMaine Center on Aging and co-directs the Consortium for Aging Policy Research & Analysis (CAPRA). In practice, she coordinates Lifelong Maine's Age-Friendly Communities initiative, working with older adults to build communities where everyone can thrive. Her research is embedded in practice, examining how social, service, policy, and built environments shape well-being in rural communities, pointing to practical ways to strengthen social inclusion, civic engagement, and access to resources. Current interests include rural volunteerism, volunteer transportation, and volunteer peer navigation linking older adults to services and social opportunities. Her recent work examines how age-friendly principles spread beyond their original communities, reshaping institutions and practices in unplanned ways. She partners with community organizations, service providers, and researchers to translate findings into programs and policy that reflect the priorities of older Mainers themselves.

Dr. Ronit Elk, PhD., FAAHPM, is Professor in the Department of Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine, UAB. For the fifteen years she has been conducting NIH-funded studies using Community Based Participatory Research (CBRP) values. CBPR is a social justice approach, in which community members are equal partners in the entire research process. Using this approach, the first ever training program for clinicians in providing culturally and religiously concordant healthcare for older Southern African Americans with serious illness was developed by a southern African American community. Over 500 clinicians have been trained. With NIA funding, she is building a national program in which she and her team train and mentors professionals who focus on older adults, in CBPR, with the goal of increasing research and program development in which the voices of older adults are heard and their recommendations embraced.

Dr. Emily A. Greenfield is the Founding Director of the Rutgers University Hub for Aging Collaboration and a Professor of Social Work. Her research, teaching, and engagement seek to accelerate cross-sectoral collaboration for age-friendly social change, to scale up community-centered initiatives on aging, and to promote leadership development to improve society for long lives and aging equity.

Dr. Leach is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Institute of Gerontology, Co-Director of the Community Engagement Core at the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors (CURES), and Associate Center Director for Community Inclusion at the Center for Health Equity and Community Knowledge in Urban Populations (CHECK-UP) at Wayne State University. She is a health communication expert with more than 15 years of experience in community engagement and community-based participatory research processes, with extensive experience conducting collaborative research and evaluation. Her research aims are focused on addressing health inequities by co-developing community-responsive solutions derived from participatory processes that will improve the provision of health-related services and care. Her ultimate goal is to improve the flow of and access to health-protecting information to historically marginalized populations who need it most.

Isabell C. May, PhD directs the Entrepreneurship and Science Communication for Aging and Aging-Related Research (ESCAAR) program and the Certificate in Science Communication at the University of Maryland School of Graduate Studies, and she leads the UMB Writing Center. She specializes in inclusive, interdisciplinary science communication across audiences and sectors and serves as Co-PI on an NIH Fogarty R25 focused on research ethics education in Morocco. A faculty fellow with Teach Access and the National Federation of the Blind, she advances accessibility in higher education and regularly publishes on science communication pedagogy.

Dr. Nikki O. Tyson is a seasoned credentialed gerontologist, educator, and advocate dedicated to transforming how society understands and values aging. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Master’s degree in Gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Dr. Tyson completed a Doctor of Education (EdD) in Curriculum Studies at the University of South Carolina. Dr. Tyson also holds a National Association for Professional Gerontologists (NAPG) certification as a Credentialed Professional Gerontologist (CPG). Dr. Tyson has managed many programs serving older adults, including transportation services, affordable housing, congregate and home-delivered meals, and corporate education initiatives. She has delivered professional training across the southeastern United States as well as presentations at several national conferences. Driven by a passion for advocacy and education, Dr. Tyson founded Advocating Anti-Ageism and Educating Against Ageism, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, to combat age-based bias.

Bernadette Wright, PhD, joined Meals on Wheels America in May 2020. There, she leads research and data analyses to inform and advance the organization’s strategic work. She has over 25 years of experience helping organizations use research to understand and solve complex issues, primarily in aging and health. Before joining Meals on Wheels America, she was an independent consultant leading research projects for national non-profit organizations and universities. Before that, she was a consultant at The Lewin Group, providing research on aging and disability issues for federal agencies. She earned her PhD in Public Policy/Program Evaluation from the University of Maryland. In her free time, she enjoys long hikes and bird- and wildlife-watching.

Yuanjin Zhou is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work. Yuanjin Zhou received her Ph.D. in Social Welfare from the University of Washington School of Social Work. Zhou’s research program focuses on characterizing both precarious and positive aspects of the caregiving process of older people with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). Zhou’s work explores how these caregiving processes impact the health and well-being of both care partners and older people with ADRD. Furthermore, she explores how multilevel factors and mechanisms shape these caregiving processes. Through this formative research and the active involvement of community and clinical partners, Dr. Zhou’s work aims to develop and implement empowerment, health promotion, and preventive interventions for care partners and older people with ADRD in various care settings.