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Kate de Medeiros is the first graduate of the program, May 2006. She is a research scientist at the Copper Ridge Institute in Sykesville, Maryland, and an instructor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She was recently awarded a Brookdale Leadership in Aging Fellowship from the Brookdale Foundation in New York City for her project, "Self Stories: Improving Memories by Recalling Stories from the Past." The project involves developing and implementing a structured autobiographical writing group for older adults, which will then be tested as an intervention to improve memory and wellbeing. Other work includes co-development of an expanded tool for assessing neuropsychiatric symptoms in people with dementia in clinical trials research. |  |
| Kelly Niles-Yokum, graduated in December 2006. She is currently Director of the Consortium Gerontology Studies Program (CGSP), an academic program of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, in Worcester, MA. As Director, she coordinates a gerontology certificate program on four campuses and serves as Managing Editor for Gerontology and Geriatrics Education, the official journal of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. As a gerontology faculty member she teaches Policy Planning for an Aging Society at Worcester State College. |  |
Andrea Rubin, graduated December 2007, is a research analyst at the Center for Health Program Development and Management. Her key responsibilities include analyzing data to determine nursing home and home- and community-based services utilization. She is currently working in collaboration with Maryland Medicaid and the Money Follows the Person Medicaid Demonstration to implement home and community based services to individuals who are living in institutions. Dr. Rubin is involved in the development of a framework for state-level analysis of dual eligibles. |  |
| Dan Van Dussen graduated in December 2006 and is now works an Assistant Professor at Youngstown State University. He teaches Introductory Sociology in the Sociology/Anthropology Department and his primary responsibility is to build a gerontology major. |  |
Quincy Samus, graduated May 2007, is an Instructor (tenure-track) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research interests include the epidemiology and care of dementia and other mental health disorders in both the long term care and community setting. She has worked for several years as the project coordinator of the Maryland Assisted Living Study (MD-AL), an epidemiological study of the prevalence, incidence, and management of dementia and mental health disorders in the assisted living setting. She is the principal investigator on the Maximizing Independence at Home-Phase II (MIND at Home) study, a new randomized controlled trial designed to test the feasibility and effectiveness of an innovative, pro-active case identification and care coordination intervention for community-dwelling elders with dementia. Dr. Samus also has a joint appointment in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and is currently teaching one course, the Psychology of Aging. |  |
Jian Ye graduated December 2006 after defending her dissertation on, “Access to Care and Functional Change Among Aged Medicare Beneficiaries with Parkinson’s Disease: A multilevel analysis”. Along with her PhD in Gerontology Jian earned an MS in Epidemiology. She is now working as a consultant in the Health Services Department of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC. She consults on health services research and evaluation with particular interests in study design, data collection and statistical analysis. She also plays a critical role in database management, monitoring and evaluation for the “Fighting HIV/AIDS at Work Place” program in the World Bank. |  |
| Magda Tolea graduated from the Gerontology PhD Program in summer 2007. Magda has a 2-year postdoctoral position with the National Institute on Aging under Dr. Luigi Ferrucci’s supervision. There she has been involved in several research projects on mobility issues and will continue to accrue research experience and develop a research agenda. She has also been teaching part time at University of Maryland Baltimore County. Her long-term career goals include research in the area of physical function as well as teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels. |  |
Daniel Andersen graduated May 2008. He currently is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Injury Prevention and Trauma Response at the National Study Center at the Univeristy of Maryland Medical Center. Dan also taught at Social Epidemiology at UMBC. |  |
Rebecca Perron, graduated May 2008, is a Research Analyst in Strategic Issues Research at AARP in Washington, DC. The research focuses on issues related to workers, aged 50+,
(i.e the Best Employers project) and the research is used to promote workplace policies and procedures that allow older workers to remain in the workforce until they choose to retire and in the manner they choose. |  |
Loretta Ayd-Simpson has just graduated in December 2008. More to come about Loretta. |  |
