Rebecca Perron
Track: Policy
BA: Psychology, Middlebury College
MPH: Policy and Management, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Tommy is the recipient of a three-year National Institute on Aging Minority Research and Training Supplement to work with Dr. Eckert on the NIA funded study, Transitions from Assisted Living.  He is currently developing his dissertation pre-proposal on the topic of “How cognitive and functional status effect transitions in older assisted living residents”.  It explores how stability or changes in resident status affects their ability to age in place.  Following graduation, he seeks a post-doctorate fellowship with emphasis on psychosocial affects of chronic co-morbidities. Tommy’s final goals are to teach and conduct research centered on health indicators and environmental fit.

Joanna Samsell
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
B.S. Biology, West Virginia University
MPH: Masters of Public Health, WVU

Joanna's interest in gerontology grew out of her closeness with her
grandmother and the opportunities available in the field of
gerontology.  The program at UMB/UMBC offered the flexibility in tracks that appealed to Joanna.  She has worked with Dr. John Schumacher on the Transitions in Assisted Living: Physician Practices project that interviews physicians whose patients reside in assisted living residences. She has also worked with Dr. Jessica Kelley-Moore on the HANDLS (Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span) project, which is a longitudinal study in collaboration with the NIA focusing on neighborhoods and health.  Joanna's personal interests
focus on aging in rural areas specifically around topics such as access to care and health. In addition, due to opportunities offered in the Gerontology program she has added an additional interest in assisted living concerning how space is utilized by residents.  Her dissertation
topic focuses on how access to care relates to the functional status of rural elders utilizing data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.  Her ultimate goal after finishing this program is to teach at a small to medium size university.

Daniel Andersen
Track: Epidemiology
BS: Health Science/Phys Ther/Psych, Univ. of Miami
MPH: University of Miami

Daniel began his collegiate education training to be a geriatric physical therapist.  He later decided to study public health in order to pursue a broader career in aging.  While at the University of Maryland, he has worked on studies that involve the rehabilitation of cognitively impaired hip fracture patients, nursing assistants’ perceptions of their jobs, and tele-management of both diabetes and multiple sclerosis in a VA population.  He has worked on two clinical trials involving the hip fracture population.  His research interests include frailty, functional recovery after a hip fracture, and homeless older adults.  He is currently developing an interdisciplinary program to address the problem of homelessness in Baltimore.  Daniel’s future goals include teaching gerontology and the epidemiology of aging.  He would like to develop an undergraduate and graduate program in gerontology at the University of Miami.

Loretta Ayd-Simpson
Track: Policy
AA :  Physician Assistant Program, Essex Community College        
BS:  Gerontology, Towson Univ.

Loretta’s work as a PA in the long-term care setting led her to study aging in a broader context. Her area of concentration in the program is aging policy with a specialization in environmental gerontology. Specifically, she is looking at the mechanisms and pathways by which environments may act as determinants of health at both the individual and societal levels. Loretta is the recipient of a National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Training Award to work with Dr. Jessica Kelley-Moore on the NIA-sponsored Baltimore-based study, “Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span” [HANDLS]. This 20-year panel study examines the influence of physical and social environments on health over the life course. Upon graduation, Loretta plans to seek a position that will allow her to pursue advocacy for older adults, conduct research, and teach.

Kim DeMichele
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology, Utica College

For the past three years, Kim has worked with Dr. Robert Rubinstein on an ethnographic study exploring the meaning of suffering in old age. As part of this project, she interviews elders, age 80 and older, in an effort to learn more about their lives and experiences with suffering. Her previous research experience includes investigations of chemosensory and cognitive functioning and an analysis of historical census data on ethnicity and the foreign-born. She is now working on her dissertation proposal, a qualitative analysis of cultural influences on experiences of control in later life. Her career goals include research and teaching.

Katherine Giuriceo
Track: Policy
BSW: Social Work, UMBC
MA: Counseling Psychology, Loyola College
MSW: Social Work, Ohio State

Katherine Giuriceo is a part time student and works as the Manager of the WORKlife Programs at Johns Hopkins University.  In this role she provides both elder and child care services, including problem assessment and resource information and referral to the Hopkins community.  She is in the policy track with research interests in the transition from work to retirement and a concentration in health care policy.

Thomas Shaffer
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Business admin, Univ. of New Haven
MHS: Hlth policy & mangement, Johns Hopkins Univeristy

As a research analyst at The Peter Lamy Center for Drug Therapy and Aging in the School of Pharmacy, Tom is immersed in a rich environment where he can look at a number of different aspects regarding the provision of prescribed medications in residential settings.  The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 provides many areas for research topics as this recently enacted public policy turns into legislative reality.  His dissertation work will involve looking at the effect of transitions across select residential settings on the drug regimens of individuals.  Not very far behind his research interests are methodological and data issues, and developing practical applications from research findings.  Another area of interest is that of individual hardiness and gumption in later life and the subsequent late-life adaptations that result.  Tom would like to return to being involved with or lead research at the Federal level or through teaching and training, though simply winning the lottery and retiring along the banks of the Connecticut river retains a certain allure.

Katherine Bintrim
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology, Duquesne Univeristy
MPH: Public Health, Univeristy of Maryland College Park

For the past 3 years Katie has worked full-time for the Erickson Foundation, part of Erickson Retirement Communities, as the senior research assistant.  She coordinates a 15-year longitudinal study that aims to validate the Erickson Resident Profile. This is a study with 300 participants that takes place at four of the Erickson campuses in the Maryland and Virginia area.  Katie is in charge of recruitment, retention, assessments, and data management.  In addition, she assists on several other studies that center on successful aging, falls and balance, and cognition.   In addition to school and her work at the Foundation Katie serves on several committees for local Alzheimer’s Associations.  Currently she is a part-time student in the PhD Gerontology program and hopes to do work in the areas of Alzheimer’s disease, Caregiving, and Health Education.

Leanne Clark
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology and Gerontology, Miami University
MGS: Gerontological Studies, Miami University

Leanne comes from Ohio, where she spent six years at Miami University earning undergraduate degrees in psychology and gerontology, and a Master of Gerontological Studies.  While at Miami, she became interested in the implications of America’s aging society on the medical industry, the politics of long-term care, and applied gerontology.  She also co-founded a consulting business that helps organizations understand and meet the needs of their aging workforce.  Leanne is currently working with Dr. Leslie Morgan on a grant investigating quality in assisted living, and also serves as a member of the “Transitions in Assisted Living” team with Dr. Kevin Eckert.  She is passionate about being a part of the next generation of gerontology scholars, and applying her education and experiences to help the nation embrace present and future generations of elders.  Leanne is active in the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, and is the past Chair of the Student Committee.  In the future, she would like to pursue a career in academia and research, and continue leadership involvement in professional organizations.

Tesfamichael Mehari
Track: Epidemiology
MD: Addis Ababa University
MPH: Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Tesfa is originally from Eritrea and worked as a missionary physician in Kenya and Tanzania where a large portion of his patients were elderly.  Once in the United States he earned an MPH, concentrating in mental health.  He is currently on a leave of absence from the program.

Wenjing Weng
Track: Epidemiology
DDS: Beijing University

Wenjing was trained in dentistry in China. For the past two years, she has been working on her courses and working on a Restoriative Care project with Dr. Barbara Resnick and Dr. Ann Gruber-Baldini. She is interested in oral health among the elderly population.

Sarah Canham
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA:  Human Studies, St. Mary's College
 
Sarah is a Maryland native and her interest in gerontology developed during her undergraduate years at St. Mary's College of Maryland and through an internship with a hospice organization. After spending 3 years collecting data and writing reports for the Center for Substance Abuse Research in College Park, MD she moved to a clinical setting at University of Maryland, Baltimore where she managed a database for a Parkinson's disease group. Through her experiences she has developed a strong interest in gender differences in older adults and the gender-specific risks of substance abuse and suicide, as well as older adult activities, improving the quality of life for older adults, and the negative stereotypes of older populations. She currently works with Dr. Rubinstein examining the experiences of suffering among older adults.

Maria Theresa Okafor
Track: Epidemiology
BS:   Psychology, Texas A&M University
MS:  Clinical gerontology, Baylor University

Maria first gained exposure to the field of gerontology as a student fellow in the Physiology Department of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, through her research on aging bone loss studies under the guidance of Professor Emeritus, Dr. Dike N. Kalu. Her work in his lab served as the motivating factor behind her pursuit of a Masters in Clinical Gerontology from Baylor University.
Upon completion of her graduate studies, Maria worked as a Geriatric Consultant in the Heart of Texas region and later as the Senior Care Coordinator for the Area Agency on Aging of the Heart of Texas (AAAHOT), where she oversaw multiple programs with and served as a liaison between the agency and other organizations and institutions within the community and state. During that time she also carried a heavy client case load that consisted primarily of low-income, disadvantaged, and minority elders, many of whom suffered from diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic diseases. It is her work with these individuals that fueled her desire to pursue a doctorate in Gerontology and arm herself with the tools and knowledge necessary to make a positive and long lasting impact on the lives of older adults.
Maria is currently interested in the epidemiology of aging and diabetes in immigrant populations. Other areas of interest include: implementing local evidence based health promotion programs, etiology of aging related disorders in minority populations, sociology of aging in minority populations, and age related bone loss studies.

Janet Schreck
Track: Epidemiology
BA:  Speech Pathology/Audiology, Loyola College in MD
MS:  Speech Pathology, Loyola College in MD

For the past 13 years, Janet has worked as a speech-language pathologist specializing in the assessment and treatment of cognitive, communicative and swallowing disorders in the older population.  She is a part-time student in the Gerontology program and works full-time as the director of the Margaret A. McManus Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic which is part of a multidisciplinary graduate training center at Loyola College in Maryland.   Janet’s clinical and research interests include epidemiology of aging, cognitive-communication changes and disorders in the elderly, tertiary prevention and rehabilitation of the elderly.

Shoshana Ballew
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA:  Psychology and Sociology, Case Western Reserve University
 
Shoshana hails from Pennsylvania and comes to us straight from her undergraduate degree.  She worked on research that investigated if cultural beliefs and religious coping skills affected feelings of stress and depressive symptoms. Shoshana hopes to continue research in her areas of interest: caregiver burden and cultural differences in caregiving, end of life care and institutional care and reform, gender and cultural differences in aging, improving the quality of life for older adults.

Israel Cross
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Biology, UMBC
MA: Sociology, UMBC

After taking graduate courses in Sociology, Israel quickly developed an enthusiasm for studying aging in diverse contexts and subsequently enrolled in the MA Sociology program in fall 2005.  During this time, he was awarded an Intramural Research Training Award from the National Institute on Aging to work as a research trainee on the panel study “Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span” (HANDLS).  Israel will earn his Masters in Applied Sociology in August 2006 with a focus on health and aging. In his doctoral studies he plans to pursue a biosocial perspective on the aging process, with a focus on cardiovascular health, physical function, and social influences on health disparities.

Sarah Fogler
Track: Policy
B.S.: Psychology, McDaniel College (formerly known as Western Maryland College).
M.A.: Psychology/Aging track, Boston University, 2002.

Previous experience includes a research assistantship at Boston University Medical Center, in the Alzheimer’s Disease Center, working on various studies investigating dementia predicators, the process, and curative efforts. Also, Sarah has extensive experience in the Long-Term Care/Skilled Nursing Facility industry, having served as the Director of Resident Services at a Manor Care facility from 2002-2006. Her current interests include staffing patterns as they relate to resident rehab potential and quality of life, and communication along the healthcare continuum.  Her future goals are to obtain policy design tools that will allow her to analyze current aging policies and lobby for reform, as well as teach aging policy at the university level.

Yu (Sunny) Kang
Track: Policy
BA: English, Beijing Lang. & Culture Univ.
MPA: University of Central Florida
MPP: University of Maryland Baltimore County

Sunny’s research interests focus on “long-term care” related topics, including cares to the population in nursing homes, with mental retardation and developmental disabilities, with HIV/AIDS and the elderly. Sunny’s past experience include working at UMBC, Department of Public Policy. As a research assistant, she participated in several interdisciplinary health policy research projects, focusing on disability and aging issues. Her past research projects include analyzing state’s investments in community based long term care and how state predictors of such investment might vary across segments of the long term care population. A second study involves conducting analyses of nursing home residents’ decision making related to long term care. A third related area of work is conducting a profile of working age individuals in nursing homes using the most recent National Nursing Home Survey.  Upon completion of the Doctorial Program of Gerontology, she hopes to teach or/and do research in the field of aging policies.

Lynn Keimig
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: English, College of William & Mary
MHA: Health Policy, Cornell University

Lynn works as a project manager in the Center for Aging Studies at UMBC.  She coordinates the day-to-day activities of two studies funded by the National Institute on Aging:  Transitions from Assisted Living: Sociocultural Aspects (Dr. Kevin Eckert, Principal Investigator (PI)) and Stakeholders’ Models of Quality in Assisted Living (Dr. Leslie Morgan, PI).  She also coordinates grant proposal development and submission.  Lynn began her career as a program analyst with the National Cancer Institute.  Her research interests are in health and wellness, environment and aging, and application of technology to maximize independence. Lynn’s career goals include research, teaching, and program development in aging services.

Patrick Doyle
Track:  Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology, Rhode Island College

Patrick was born and raised in a small town in Rhode Island.  His interest in elder care was sparked at the early age of nine while he was volunteering in a local nursing home.  Since that age Patrick has continued to work and volunteer in geriatric settings.  As an undergraduate psychology and biology student at Rhode Island College he began to research the impact of medical labels on elder care.  As a doctoral student Patrick looks to continue researching elder quality of care with Dr. John Schumacher and other professors.  Patrick’s aspiration is to revolutionize the care of elders through research, teaching and hands-on care

Susan Hannum
Track: Epidemiology
B.A.: Interdisciplinary Studies and Psychology, UMBC
M.A.: Applied Sociology, UMBC

Susan comes to the doctoral program after having spent the previous two years working at Thomas Jefferson University’s Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health with Dr. Helen Black on a study done in conjunction with Dr. Robert Rubinstein of UMBC. The study pertained to the experience of suffering in those over the age of 80 and she was able to garner invaluable experience related to qualitative research. Currently, Susan works as a research fellow for the Erickson Foundation with the main focus of her efforts centered upon a study pertaining to successful aging. Her current research interests include the epidemiology of centenarianism, the epidemiology of neurological diseases, health disparities, and successful aging.

Jennifer Lloyd
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Psychology/Sociology, Towson University
MA: Sociology, UMBC

After graduating with her BA Jennifer worked for a U.S. Department of Justice clearinghouse, the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, where she specialized in substance abuse and criminal justice issues. After three years in the field, Jennifer decided to go back to get her Master's in Applied Sociology at UMBC. While working on her Master's, she was the project coordinator for the neighborhood survey portion of the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study with the National Institute on Aging. Upon graduation, Jennifer began teaching Introduction to Sociology and The Family courses at Towson University and UMBC. With a background in Sociology, Jennifer has an interest in studying inequality as it pertains to race, gender, and social class among aging populations.

Amanda Peeples
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
B.A.: Sociology & Psychology, UMBC
M.A.: Applied Sociology, UMBC

While earning her MA degree, Amanda worked as a research assistant on a project with Dr. Robert Rubinstein examining older adults’ experiences of suffering over the life course.  This hands-on experience in doing research among an aged population fueled Amanda’s interest in continuing her education in the field of gerontology. Her goal is to pursue a career in research, and possibly to teach at the university level.

Melissa Rice
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Sociology/Criminal Justice, Mount St. Mary's College
MA: Sociology, UMBC

Melissa's interest in Sociology began with an undergraduate elective in Sociology.  She then went on to pursue her master's degree in Sociology at UMBC.  She was awarded an Intramural Research Training Award from the National Institute on Aging to work as a research trainee on the panel study "Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity Across the Life Span" (HANDLS).  Currently, she is interested in studying depression, cardiovascular health, and social influences on health disparities.  Melissa's career goals include research and the possibility of teaching.

Ying Tang
Track: Epidemiology
BA: English, Sichuan University
MA: Gerontology, Georgia Univeristy

Originally from Chongquing, China, Ying comes to us from her graduate degree in Gerontology.  She worked on research that investigated job satisfaction among case managers working primarily for older adults.  She hopes to continue research in diseases and disabilities among older adults, burden and cultural differences in caregiving, end of life care and institutional care and reform, improving the quality of life for older adults.