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.