Ann Cason (Daily Care)
Ann Cason provides caregiver consulting and training services for families and caregivers of elderly people, as well as public and private organizations concerned with eldercare issues. She is the author of Circles of Care: How to Set Up Quality Home Care for Our Elders.
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James Castle (Stroke Medicine)
James Castle, a neurologist specializing in stroke, is on the staff at Evanston Northwestern Hospital. His previous position as instructor was at the Stanford Stroke Center. Jim graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, received his medical degree from Yale University, completed his neurology residency at Johns Hopkins University, and did a stroke fellowship year at Stanford University.
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Bonnie Bajorek Daneker (Cancer)
Bonnie Bajorek Daneker is the author of The Compassionate Caregiver's Guide to Caring for Someone With Cancer (AuthorHouse 2007). She is on the executive committee of the Cancer Survivor's Network at St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta and on the Georgia Lieutenant Governor's Health Initiatives task force.
Elizabeth Dugan (Driving)
Elizabeth Dugan is the author of the Driving Dilemma: The Complete Resource Guide for Older Drivers and Their Families. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, director of the University of Massachusetts Rosalie Wolf Interdisciplinary Geriatric Health Care Research Center, an assistant professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and a researcher at the Meyers Primary Care Institute. Her research focuses on solving practical problems encountered by older adults and their loved ones.
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Karen Earle (Diabetes)
Karen Earle is chief of endocrinology and medical director of Diabetes Services at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. She runs an adult diabetes clinic, working with certified diabetes educators, dietitians, and medical residents to help people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes manage often-complex conditions. A graduate of Yale University Medical School, she also sees patients privately, is active in diabetes advocacy and research, and currently serves as the president of the American Diabetes Association San Francisco Advisory Board.
James Frank (Heart)
James Frank is Assistant Professor of Medicine and Director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit at the V.A. Medical Center in San Francisco. He received his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed residency training in internal medicine and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. His primary clinical and research interest is critical care medicine, and he spends much of his time caring for elderly patients in the intensive care unit and working with their families.
Theresa Garnero (Diabetes)
Theresa Garnero is clinical nurse manager of Diabetes Services at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. A certified diabetes educator, she's the author of DIABETease: A Lighter Look at the Serious Subject of Diabetes. She also wrote a daily guide to living with diabetes for the American Diabetes Association, scheduled for publication in fall 2008. She was named Diabetes Educator of the Year by the American Association of Diabetes Educators for 2004-2005. Find her online at www.tgarnero.com.
Lisa Gwyther (Alzheimer's and Gerontology)
Lisa P. Gwyther, author of The Alzheimer's Action Plan, is a social worker with 38 years of experience in providing services to the aging and those with Alzheimer's. For 23 years, she's been the education director of the Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. She is also an associate professor in the Duke University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and is the current president of the Gerontological Society of America.
Nan Hayes (Elder Housing)
Nan Hayes began her work with the older generation at the age of 15. In 2002, after 20 years of corporate work experience, Nan founded a senior relocation company, RightSized Living, which assists senior clients and their families as they transition from one home setting to the next. She also serves on the board of the Senior Transition Foundation, which supports seniors in need of services.
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Cleo Hutton (Stroke)
Cleo Hutton is the author of After a Stroke: 300 Tips for Making Life Easier, coauthor (with Louis R. Caplan, M.D.) of Striking Back at Stroke: A Doctor-Patient Journal, and a contributor to the books Brain Attack: the Journey Back and Stroke . Cleo's campaign to spread the word about stroke issues has led to appearances on national TV and radio shows including CNN Health and Boston?s About Health, and in publications such as Prevention , Cerebrum , and the National Stroke Association's Stroke Smart . As a freelance writer, Cleo has been published in the American Stroke Association's Stroke Connection and National Stroke Association?s Stroke Smart, and has contributed to The Stroke Network e-zine.
At the age of 43, Cleo had two right-side ischemic strokes, followed by heart surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. After formal rehabilitation, she returned to college. Determined to regain control of her life, she persevered and was continually on the dean's list. At the age of 50, she graduated with honors, receiving a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota. Cleo is the mother of three adult children and a grandmother. She lives independently in northern Minnesota with her orange tabby cat, Buddy. For medical and family privacy reasons, the name Cleo Hutton is a pseudonym.
Joseph L. Matthews (Medicare, Medicaid, Long-Term Care)
Joseph L. Matthews has been an attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1971. From 1975 to 1977 he taught at the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of numerous books, including Social Security, Medicare, and Government Pensions; Long-Term Care: How to Plan and Pay for It; How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim ; and The Lawyer Who Blew up His Desk. The original coauthor of Joseph's book on Social Security and Medicare was his mother, Dorothy, who had worked at senior centers for 25 years. Joseph then assisted her with her own care during the later years of her life, arranging her legal and financial documents and helping her move to home care and assisted living as her needs changed.
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Merrily Orsini (In-Home Care)
Merrily Orsini was a pioneer in the business of providing geriatric care and managed in-home care. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Private Duty Homecare Association, an arm of the National Association of Home Care and Hospice. She has a master's degree in social work and is a nationally known writer and speaker on aging, elder issues, and in-home care. She served on the board of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, chaired two national conferences presented in conjunction with the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, was a delegate to the National Institute on Aging, and cofounded and co-owned a company that provided in-home care to frail elders from 1981 to 1998.
Andrew Putnam (Cancer Treatment and Palliative Care)
As the Director of the Palliative Care Program at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Andew Putnam, MD, is known as the "go-to" expert for managing pain and other cancer symptoms and treatment side effects. His mission is to improve patients' quality of life before, during, and after treatment. Putnam is one of the foremost specialists in palliative care, which for the past five to ten years has been growing and gaining popularity in hospitals and medical centers across the country. Palliative care -- which includes, but isn?t limited to hospice care -- aims to provide pain management and symptom relief to patients with serious, life-threatening diseases such as cancer.
At Georgetown University, Dr. Putnam is an Assistant Professor of Oncology and Medicine, where he teaches in both the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, as well as supervising medical students and residents in the hospital. He's also a member of the neuro-oncology and childhood cancer research program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Barbara Repa (Estate Planning and End of Life Issues)
Barbara Kate Repa, a lawyer and journalist, has devoted her career to editing and writing about legal issues for consumers. She's the author of WillMaker (Nolo), best-selling software that enables consumers to write their own wills, healthcare directives, powers of attorney, and final arrangements. She's also an instructor for AIDS caregivers, teaching about legal end-of-life issues and funeral planning, and she recently wrote the content for a website for those searching for long-term care in California.
Early in life, Barbara Kate forged a deep relationship with her grandmother, who taught her the enduring and addictive skill of knitting. New to California twenty years ago, she sought out friendships with older people -- and found hundreds of them when she became president of the Bay Area Funeral Society, a feisty consumer group aiming to stamp out abuses in the funeral industry. She is the resource to whom friends turn first for advice on dealing with legal and personal care issues for aging parents and disabled spouses and partners.
Donna Quin Robbins (Moving)
Donna Quinn Robbins, the author of Moving Mom and Dad and On the Road of Life, Drive Yourself , has helped more than 4,000 individuals and families negotiate successful moves locally and nationally for more than 16 years. She is also an active public speaker on the topic of senior transition services and elderly lifestyle transitions, leads seminars, and has made appearances on NBC's national "Today Show" as well as San Francisco Bay Area programs. Donna offers her expertise and guidelines for successful transitions to individual people, families, retirement communities, and corporations through her company, Ultimate Moves. She is currently the designer and move-in coordinator at five major San Francisco Bay Area retirement communities, and has been involved with three start-ups, helping the communities move in their new residents with as little stress and confusion as possible. As a designer, she also helps families create their new homes. Donna graduated from Bennett College and is a member of the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM).
Jonathan Rosenfeld (Relationships)
Jonathan Rosenfeld is a clinical psychologist with more than 20 years of experience working with families, couples, and individuals. He is also adjunct associate professor of drama therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where his focus is on family dynamics, communication, and intergenerational issues. Jonathan started an executive coaching practice by working with small businesses owned by families, counseling them on how the passing of wisdom from older family members supports the success of the business. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the San Francisco School of Psychology.
Jennifer Serafin (Home Health Care)
Jennifer Serafin is a geriatric nurse practitioner at the Jewish Home in San Francisco, where she provides primary care and management of acute illnesses. Jennifer also leads staff teaching sessions and is a member of many of the facility's committees: Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Infection Control, Policy and Procedure, and Formulary. Her nursing specialties include cardiology, urology, and gynecology. She is president of the local chapter of the National Conference of Gerontologic Nurse Practitioners, a member of the California Association of Nurse Practitioners, and associate clinical professor for the Physiological Nursing Department at University of California, San Francisco.
Jennifer received her bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, and a master of science degree as a gerontological nurse practitioner, with a minor in teaching, from the University of California San Francisco.
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Joyce Simard (Alzheimer's and Dementia)
Based in Land O' Lakes, Florida, Joyce Simard is a social worker and geriatric consultant specializing in dementia care. During her 30 years in the healthcare industry, she has developed quality-of-life programs for people in all stages of dementia, including a memory-enhancement program for people with mild memory loss and The Club for nursing home residents who are in the moderate stage of a dementing illness. She's the author of The-End-of-Life Namaste Care Program for People With Dementia and the children's book The Magic Tape Recorder.
David Solie (Understanding the Elderly)
David Solie, the author of How To Say It to Seniors: Closing the Communication Gap with Our Elders (Prentice Hall Press), is an expert in the area of geriatric psychology and its impact on working with older clients. He is also the medical director for Marsh Private Client Services, where his business unit specializes in life insurance as part of the estate planning process. For more than 20 years, David has created and delivered educational courses for the insurance and financial services industries, and he has been a featured speaker at Pepperdine University, Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, Blue Cross, The Million Dollar Round Table, The International Forum, The Association for Advanced Life Underwriters, The Western Regional Planned Giving Conference, The California CPA Conference, and The Dallas Estate Planning Council.
Beth Spencer (Alzheimer's & Dementia)
Beth Spencer, a social worker, has been in practice for more than 25 years and focuses on helping the families of people with with Alzheimer's and other dementias. She's the director of early-stage and adult day programs at Silver Club Programs at the University of Michigan Health Systems in Ann Arbor and the co-author of Understanding Difficultt Behaviors: Some Practical Suggestions for Coping with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Illnesses, Moving a Relative with Memory Loss, and Developing Meaningful Connections with People with Dementia: A Manual for Staff Training.
Beth holds a master of arts in education (with a specialist in aging certificate), a second master of arts in English language and literature, and a master's in social work, all from the University of Michigan.
Barbara Steinberg (Financial Planning)
Barbara Steinberg, a financial planner and educator, is the managing member of BLS Advisors LLC, a financial planning firm focused on seniors, especially those with long-term care needs. Barbara's specialty is working with veterans, retirees, and seniors who are about to retire. She is certified as a financial planner, retirement financial advisor, and in long-term care; she is also a chartered retirement planning counselor and mutual fund counselor, and an accredited asset management specialist. Her articles on investing have been published in the New Brunswick Home News, and she hosted a radio show, "It's Your Money," as a public service to the Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts areas.
Steve Weisman
Steve Weisman hosts the nationally syndicated radio show "A Touch of Grey," heard on more than 50 stations, including WABC in New York City and KRLA in Los Angeles. He is a practicing lawyer specializing in estate planning and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He is a sought-after public speaker and commentator and has appeared on many radio and television shows throughout the country. He is the Legal Editor of Talkers Magazine , the preeminent trade publication of talk radio.
Steve has also taught at the University of Massachusetts, Curry College, and Boston University. Presently he is a senior lecturer at Bentley College. Steve is the author of A Guide to Elder Planning, Boomer or Bust: Your Financial Guide to Retirement, Health Care, Medicare and Long-term Care, and 50 Ways to Protect Your Identity and Your Credit. His most recent book is The Truth About Avoiding Scams.
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