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Collective Insight
Steering Committee
Click on the links below to access Member Bios, current and archived Newsletters, upcoming meeting information, and past meeting agendas and notes.
MEMBERS
NEWSLETTERS
MEETING MATERIALS
Beverly Cohen MBA, CPC
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Milton, MA
Relevant Experience:
I am a retired Marketing Manager and have started my 2nd chapter as a Certified Career and Life Coach. I help women succeed in reinventing their next Act and overcoming obstacles. My expertise includes re-branding, professional development and strategic leadership. I work with non-profit organizations and individuals along with serving on several boards in the Boston community.
Perspective on Aging:
I believe as we age it is important to continue to be active and engaged in the world around us. Each person has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that comes with age and they are willing to share their life experience. “Don’t let age control your life, let your life control your age”
Personal Pastimes:
- I am an avid Reader
- Researching my Family Tree
- World Traveler
Location: Milton, MA
Relevant Experience:
I am a retired Marketing Manager and have started my 2nd chapter as a Certified Career and Life Coach. I help women succeed in reinventing their next Act and overcoming obstacles. My expertise includes re-branding, professional development and strategic leadership. I work with non-profit organizations and individuals along with serving on several boards in the Boston community.
Perspective on Aging:
I believe as we age it is important to continue to be active and engaged in the world around us. Each person has a wealth of knowledge and wisdom that comes with age and they are willing to share their life experience. “Don’t let age control your life, let your life control your age”
Personal Pastimes:
- I am an avid Reader
- Researching my Family Tree
- World Traveler
Myrna Finn
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Montreal, Quebec Canada
Relevant Experience:
In my professional career as a college professor, I focused my energies on helping students learn and grow so that they could live full and rewarding lives. Now, I teach older adults whose goal is to continue learning and growing because they can. From the energy and enthusiasm they bring to classroom discussions, I see that they have indeed lived full and rewarding lives and desire to continue to do so. This impulse to keep on developing the mind and engaging intellectually is a life-long process. My role is to motivate and stimulate people’s natural curiosity and expand their mental faculties no matter how old they are.
Perspective on Aging:
Considering the alternatives, growing old is a good thing. What is problematic are some of the ways in which the body, mind and soul can act up during the aging process. The hardest part about this is accepting these changes and challenges, adjusting in ways never imagined in order to navigate life consonant with these changes and staying open-hearted and positive with whatever experiences life bring. Healthy aging is the ability to embrace all of this and continue to move forward.
Personal Pastimes:
- Daily exercising
- Traveling
- Hand Drumming
Location: Montreal, Quebec Canada
Relevant Experience:
In my professional career as a college professor, I focused my energies on helping students learn and grow so that they could live full and rewarding lives. Now, I teach older adults whose goal is to continue learning and growing because they can. From the energy and enthusiasm they bring to classroom discussions, I see that they have indeed lived full and rewarding lives and desire to continue to do so. This impulse to keep on developing the mind and engaging intellectually is a life-long process. My role is to motivate and stimulate people’s natural curiosity and expand their mental faculties no matter how old they are.
Perspective on Aging:
Considering the alternatives, growing old is a good thing. What is problematic are some of the ways in which the body, mind and soul can act up during the aging process. The hardest part about this is accepting these changes and challenges, adjusting in ways never imagined in order to navigate life consonant with these changes and staying open-hearted and positive with whatever experiences life bring. Healthy aging is the ability to embrace all of this and continue to move forward.
Personal Pastimes:
- Daily exercising
- Traveling
- Hand Drumming
Alice Skenadore
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Ojibway Tribe
Hayward, WI
Relevant Experience:
I have had some experience with research from Wise Women Gathering Place. I wrote a book named Discovery Dating, It's Not Just About Dating, To see if our program affected any behavior change in the youth who learned it. We did.
Perspective on Aging:
I was also a home-birth midwife for 27 years delivering 750+ babies at home. I also founded and served as ED for Wise Women Gathering Place for 24 years until retiring at the age of 75 in 2022.
Personal Pastimes:
- I enjoy playing Bingo
- I enjoy playing Spades
- I enjoy playing Settlers of Catan
Location: Ojibway Tribe
Hayward, WI
Relevant Experience:
I have had some experience with research from Wise Women Gathering Place. I wrote a book named Discovery Dating, It's Not Just About Dating, To see if our program affected any behavior change in the youth who learned it. We did.
Perspective on Aging:
I was also a home-birth midwife for 27 years delivering 750+ babies at home. I also founded and served as ED for Wise Women Gathering Place for 24 years until retiring at the age of 75 in 2022.
Personal Pastimes:
- I enjoy playing Bingo
- I enjoy playing Spades
- I enjoy playing Settlers of Catan
Janet Sasser
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Relevant Experience:
I am a retired Senior Paralegal with a
Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) degree with a focus on senior housing. A recent retiree, I volunteer at the Culver City Retirement Center to assist seniors in completing challenging medical and legal paperwork, i.e., medical forms, living trusts, real estate related documents, etc. I also work as a caregiver provider for a physically challenged senior recipient.
Perspective on Aging:
My view on aging is that I am given choices on how I age. I choose to do it gracefully. I have no intent of resting on my laurels, but instead each day I invest in myself spiritually, physically, and mentally. As a "junior" senior, I spend time each day working to assure my own optimal health, so I can then dedicate time to assist other seniors who face physical, emotional, and financial challenges. I enjoy visiting, shopping and going to movies with friends who are also in pursuit of healthy aging.
Personal Pastimes:
- Traveling to Tampa, Florida semi-annually to spend extended visits with my granddaughters
- Volunteering time at the local Senior Citizens Center and volunteering at my Church
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle by going to the gym, then for a walk on
Monday - Friday mornings.
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Relevant Experience:
I am a retired Senior Paralegal with a
Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) degree with a focus on senior housing. A recent retiree, I volunteer at the Culver City Retirement Center to assist seniors in completing challenging medical and legal paperwork, i.e., medical forms, living trusts, real estate related documents, etc. I also work as a caregiver provider for a physically challenged senior recipient.
Perspective on Aging:
My view on aging is that I am given choices on how I age. I choose to do it gracefully. I have no intent of resting on my laurels, but instead each day I invest in myself spiritually, physically, and mentally. As a "junior" senior, I spend time each day working to assure my own optimal health, so I can then dedicate time to assist other seniors who face physical, emotional, and financial challenges. I enjoy visiting, shopping and going to movies with friends who are also in pursuit of healthy aging.
Personal Pastimes:
- Traveling to Tampa, Florida semi-annually to spend extended visits with my granddaughters
- Volunteering time at the local Senior Citizens Center and volunteering at my Church
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle by going to the gym, then for a walk on
Monday - Friday mornings.
Tamara Cadet, PhD
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Grew up in Connecticut. Went to school in Boston. Now in Philadelphia.
Relevant Experience:
I have a motto that if I am not thinking about the underserved or under-represented client or patient, then I have forgotten the most important part of conducting research. This commitment to social justice permeates every aspect of my research. My overall research focus is to advance efforts to develop health promotion interventions with underserved and underrepresented populations and communities, and to translate research to practice. My current work focuses on health disparities of older people, particularly around cancer screening and cancer care. My work is at the intersection of health and social work, spanning the areas of evidence-based health promotion interventions, facilitators, and barriers to reducing disparities in preventative health behaviors, and health care service utilization among vulnerable populations. Administration.
Perspective on Aging:
With age comes wisdom and therefore, the importance of honoring age is critical. We can honor age by doing everything we can to ensure that older adults have access to whatever it is they need to function at a rate or pace they determine for themselves. Those of us who work with older adults have a person-centered approach with the older adult leading the way and we help facilitate.
Personal Pastimes:
- Smooth Jazz
- Walking
- Coffee
- Beach
Location: Grew up in Connecticut. Went to school in Boston. Now in Philadelphia.
Relevant Experience:
I have a motto that if I am not thinking about the underserved or under-represented client or patient, then I have forgotten the most important part of conducting research. This commitment to social justice permeates every aspect of my research. My overall research focus is to advance efforts to develop health promotion interventions with underserved and underrepresented populations and communities, and to translate research to practice. My current work focuses on health disparities of older people, particularly around cancer screening and cancer care. My work is at the intersection of health and social work, spanning the areas of evidence-based health promotion interventions, facilitators, and barriers to reducing disparities in preventative health behaviors, and health care service utilization among vulnerable populations. Administration.
Perspective on Aging:
With age comes wisdom and therefore, the importance of honoring age is critical. We can honor age by doing everything we can to ensure that older adults have access to whatever it is they need to function at a rate or pace they determine for themselves. Those of us who work with older adults have a person-centered approach with the older adult leading the way and we help facilitate.
Personal Pastimes:
- Smooth Jazz
- Walking
- Coffee
- Beach
Kathleen Wilbur, PhD
Role: Steering Committee Member
Edward Alan Miller, PhD
Role: Steering Committee Member
Marcus Escobedo, MPA
Role: Steering Committee Member
Odette van der Willik
Role: Steering Committee Member
Relevant Experience:
I am the Deputy Executive Director and Director of Grant Programs at the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) where I develop and oversee the organizations’ series of grant programs and manage three NIA-funded Coordinating Centers. I have established wide-ranging connections within the field and am involved in developing strategies and initiatives to help junior investigators in their career and leadership development and am intentional in developing policies and practices to combat bias and discrimination in the biomedical workforce.
Perspective on Aging:
We all age, but not everyone grows old. As we age, we gain wisdom and experience, but we are also at higher risk of getting age-related diseases and conditions. Through AFAR’s efforts we strive to delay the onset of these diseases by increasing healthspan – “the time you are healthy, not just alive.”
Personal Pastimes:
- Running
- Reading
- Petting Cats
Relevant Experience:
I am the Deputy Executive Director and Director of Grant Programs at the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR) where I develop and oversee the organizations’ series of grant programs and manage three NIA-funded Coordinating Centers. I have established wide-ranging connections within the field and am involved in developing strategies and initiatives to help junior investigators in their career and leadership development and am intentional in developing policies and practices to combat bias and discrimination in the biomedical workforce.
Perspective on Aging:
We all age, but not everyone grows old. As we age, we gain wisdom and experience, but we are also at higher risk of getting age-related diseases and conditions. Through AFAR’s efforts we strive to delay the onset of these diseases by increasing healthspan – “the time you are healthy, not just alive.”
Personal Pastimes:
- Running
- Reading
- Petting Cats
Amy Eisenstein, PhD
Role: Steering Committee Member
Location: Chicago, Il
Relevant Experience:
I am a Senior Program Officer and Director of Research & Evaluation at RRF Foundation for Aging in Chicago, Illinois. I have worked in the combined fields of gerontology and public health for over 20 years and have held a variety of positions in both academic and community-based settings. I am passionate about working to advance equitable opportunities for older adults to achieve and maintain high levels of dignity and quality of life. I am an Ambassador for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a Fellow of The Gerontological Society of America, and I hold Adjunct appointments at Northwestern University in the Feinberg School of Medicine, Departments of Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine, and at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in the School of Public Health.
Perspective on Aging:
Aging is natural part of life. It presents challenges, as well as opportunities, and everyone experiences it differently. I strive to create a society in which age is admired, cherished, and respected, as it should be.
Personal Pastimes:
I love hiking, baking, camping, and walking my dog, Cassidy. I also love spending time with my husband and two kids: Yaron (15), and Liana (12). And I LOVE to tie dye!
Location: Chicago, Il
Relevant Experience:
I am a Senior Program Officer and Director of Research & Evaluation at RRF Foundation for Aging in Chicago, Illinois. I have worked in the combined fields of gerontology and public health for over 20 years and have held a variety of positions in both academic and community-based settings. I am passionate about working to advance equitable opportunities for older adults to achieve and maintain high levels of dignity and quality of life. I am an Ambassador for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a Fellow of The Gerontological Society of America, and I hold Adjunct appointments at Northwestern University in the Feinberg School of Medicine, Departments of Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine, and at the University of Illinois at Chicago, in the School of Public Health.
Perspective on Aging:
Aging is natural part of life. It presents challenges, as well as opportunities, and everyone experiences it differently. I strive to create a society in which age is admired, cherished, and respected, as it should be.
Personal Pastimes:
I love hiking, baking, camping, and walking my dog, Cassidy. I also love spending time with my husband and two kids: Yaron (15), and Liana (12). And I LOVE to tie dye!
Marc Cohen, PhD
Role: Steering Committee Member
Previous Meeting Agendas and Notes:
UPCOMING MEETING DETAILS
DATE: January 19, 2024
TIME: 2PM-3:15PM ET
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