Research Faculty
Barbara Bowers
Position title: Professor Emerita, CARE Founding Director
Barbara Bowers, PhD, RN, FAAN conducts research with frail older adults in both community and residential settings. She is interested in how public policies, organizational practices and models of care delivery influence quality of care and quality of work life for caregivers. Her interest in work life quality for workers in long term care systems has led her to examine causes of staff turnover, the relationships among organizational structure, organizational culture, management practices, and care outcomes, and to explore ways to improve the effectiveness of staff development. Her work with informal caregivers at home has led to the development of tools to support caregiver decision making. Professor Bowers is the founding director of the School of Nursing’s Center for Aging Research and Education. She is currently on the boards of the Advancing Excellence in Long Term Care Collaborative, Capitol Lakes Foundation, and Metastar, and on the national steering committee of the Moving Forward Nursing Home Reform Coalition.
Lisa Bratzke
Position title: Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Lisa Bratzke, PhD, RN, ANP-BC, FAHA studies cognitive impairment of patients with coronary heart disease, who, according to health data, suffer from concentration or memory difficulties. With coronary heart disease on the rise—40 percent of the U.S. population is projected to have some form of it by 2030—she is examining ways to slow deteriorating cognitive function in this population, thereby improving quality of life for individuals with chronic heart failure.
Kristin Brunsell Merss
Position title: Postdoctoral Trainee
Kristin Brunsell Merss, PhD, RN is a Postdoctoral Trainee at the University of Wisconsin—Madison School of Nursing. Her research explores the intersection of incarceration and health, specifically for older adults and people aging in the criminal legal system.
Barbara King
Position title: Professor, CARE Co-Director
Barbara King, PhD, RN, APRN-BC, FAAN is the Charlotte Jane and Ralph A Rodefer Chair and Professor at the School of Nursing. Her primary research investigates how to improve care for hospitalized older adults to improve their functional outcomes both during and after a hospital stay. She is one of two faculty co-Directors of CARE.
Wan-chin Kuo
Position title: Assistant Professor
Wan-chin Kuo, RN, PhD utilizes social and behavioral data from population-based longitudinal studies to examine how the socio-ecological environments interact with 24-hour behaviors and shape cardiometabolic disparities in industrial workers. The ultimate goal is to build worker-centered intelligent environments to alleviate health disparities among industrial workers across the nation and the world.
Maichou Lor
Position title: Assistant Professor
Maichou Lor, PhD, RN earned her BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Nursing from the UW–Madison. She recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University. Her research focuses on improving data collection for research and patient provider communication in health care delivery settings among vulnerable populations, including Hmong elders, using applied informatics.
Susan Passmore
Position title: Assistant Professor
Susan Passmore, PhD is an anthropologist with many years of experience working public health. She studies ways to promote the ethical and equitable distribution of the benefits of health research. Her research focuses on the construction of researcher “trustworthiness” and the minimization of structural barriers to diversity. Through this work, she hopes to develop innovative and practical ways to support the inclusion of communities experiencing health disparities in science as a fundamental component of health equity.
Kristen Pecanac
Position title: Associate Professor
Kristen Pecanac, PhD, RN conducts research into how conversations between healthcare professionals, patients and their families shape treatment decision-making. Her goal is to reduce stress and suffering for patients and their family members by improving communication. She is the Helen Denne Schulte Professor of Nursing.
Tonya Roberts
Position title: Associate Professor, CARE Co-Director
Tonya Roberts, PhD, RN conducts research to help improve the quality of life for frail older adults who require long-term care. She is particularly interested in enhancing the personalization of care in ways that allow older adults to achieve their individual life and care goals, and in developing interventions that activate and engage older adults in their own care and long-term care environments. She is the Karen Frick Pridham Professor in Family-Centered Care and one of two faculty co-Directors of CARE.
Megan Zuelsdorff
Position title: Assistant Professor
Megan Zuelsdorff, PhD is a social epidemiologist and an Investigator in the Inclusion of Underrepresented Groups Core of the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Her research focuses on social determinants of later-life cognitive health, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. She approaches cognitive aging and dementia research from a public health and equity perspective, conducting research that is inclusive, accessible and responsive to the concerns of community stakeholders.
Clinical Faculty
Sarah Endicott
Position title: Clinical Professor
Sarah Endicott, DNP, PMHNP-BC, GNP-BC is a board-certified psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and geriatric nurse practitioner with experience caring for older adults with complex needs across care settings. Her current clinical practice is geriatric psychiatry in long-term care and on a geriatric psychiatry unit. She teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program at the UW–Madison School of Nursing and serves as a preceptor for students in medicine and nursing. Her interests include the education and support of caregivers for people living with dementia. She serves as the faculty liaison to the CARE Advisory Committee.
Sarah Kruger
Position title: Clinical Professor, Emerita
Sarah Kruger, DNP, RN focuses on older adults, including those with diabetes and those with neurological conditions. She is interested in developing different teaching modalities for students. She is an advanced practice registered nurse.
Becky Muehrer
Position title: Clinical Professor, Accelerated BSN Coordinator
Becky Muehrer, PhD, RN received her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate at the UW–Madison School of Nursing. She is an experienced clinical and nursing instructor who oversees the School’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program. She led a project to incorporate diverse educational materials into the undergraduate programs to improve student knowledge and understanding of darker skin tones in health assessments. She is collaborating with CARE and UW Hospital to integrate instruction on Age Friendly Health Systems into the undergraduate programs.
Stacy Schmitt
Position title: Clinical Instructor II
Stacy Schmitt, MSN, RN teaches in the undergraduate program at the UW–Madison School of Nursing. She also works in a rural hospital and has professional experience in school, parish and long-term care nursing. Schmitt has collaborated with Aging and Disability Resource Centers and other partners to foster awareness and support of people living with dementia.
Adjunct Faculty
Julia Berian
Position title: Assistant Professor of Surgery, Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery
Julia Berian MD, MS is a fellowship-trained colorectal surgeon. She treats benign and malignant conditions including colon cancer, rectal cancer, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, pelvic floor disorders and anorectal conditions. Her practice includes minimally invasive surgical techniques. Her research focuses on improving the surgical care of older adults. She has worked with the American College of Surgeons in building a Geriatric Surgery Verification program. Her current research aims to facilitate goal-concordant patient care and optimize cognitive and functional outcomes for older surgical patients.
Lauren Bishop
Position title: Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Lauren Bishop, MSW, PhD uses epidemiological, advanced computational, and qualitative methods to characterize disparities in health and wellbeing in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and as they age. Her National Institutes of Health-funded program of research focuses specifically on autistic adults and how their unique mental, physical, and social needs can be properly understood over the life course, to inform treatment, services, policy, and best practices. Dr. Bishop directs the Aging and Health Equity in Autism and Developmental Disabilities (AHEADD) Team at the Waisman Center, where she is a principal investigator.
Elizabeth Chapman
Position title: Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology in the Department of Medicine
Elizabeth Chapman, MD is a faculty member in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology in the Department of Medicine. She is also associate director of education and evaluation at the Madison VA Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center. She holds multiple administrative roles, including program director of the Geriatric Medicine fellowship program, medical director for Post-Acute Care, Geriatric Transitional Care, and the Acute Care for Elders service at University Hospital, and medical advisor for UW Health Care Direct. Her scholarly work has focused on the development of educational interventions for physician trainees and other health professionals in the care of geriatric patients during and after hospitalization.
Alexis Eastman
Position title: Clinical Associate Professor, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology in the Department of Medicine
Alexis Eastman, MD provides medical care for older adults in inpatient and outpatient settings, both in primary care and in memory care. She serves as Director of Clinical Operations for Primary and Specialty Care in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology, and as Medical Director of the Badger Prairie Health Center in Verona, Wisconsin. As a medical educator, Dr. Eastman provides classroom and clinical instruction to medical students, residents, and fellows and continuing medical education instruction about topics in geriatric medicine to practicing providers. She is also active in medical student education and serves as a Block Lead for the UW School of Medicine and Public Health MD curriculum. She is a member of the Wisconsin Association of Medical Directors, the American Geriatrics Society, and the Society for General Internal Medicine. Her scholarly publications have focused on perioperative management of older adults, curriculum development on interprofessional learning in geriatric medicine, and initiatives to improve transitions of care.
Michal Engelman
Position title: Associate Professor, Sociology
Michal Engelman, PhD MHS is the Director of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and the Director of Training for the Center for Demography of Health and Aging. She studies the dynamics of population aging and health across the life course, with particular emphasis on early and mid-life factors that influence health disparities at older ages. Her research agenda links individual health patterns with aggregate demographic trends within three lines of inquiry: (1) health and inequality across the life course; (2) global aging, migration, and health; and (3) the formal demography of longevity.
Beth Fields
Position title: Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy Program, Department of Kinesiology
Beth Fields, PhD, OTR/L has a program of research that examines animal-assisted approaches for aging adults with chronic conditions, and systems and methods designed to improve person and family-centered geriatric care. She leads the Geriatric Health Services Research Lab. She hopes to grow her interdisciplinary collaborations to help transform quality geriatric service delivery. As a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, Fields was an affiliate of their Center for Caregiving Research, Education, and Policy.
Carey Gleason
Position title: Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology
Carey Gleason, PhD, MS is a researcher and clinician interested in improving timely identification of and intervention for memory disorders in underserved communities. Ultimately, she seeks to identify targets to modify risk for Alzheimer’s disease in African Americans and Native Americans, groups traditionally under-represented in research. She serves as leader of the Inclusion of Under-Represented Groups Core at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and is principal or co-investigator on numerous research projects examining modifiable risk factors, including cardiovascular disease, emotional health, and social context.
Jaime Goldberg
Position title: Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Jaime Goldberg, PhD, LCSW is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the UW–Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Her doctoral research examined the experiences of adult children who were harmed by a parent in childhood who are serving as caregivers for that parent through serious illness or the end of life. She previously served as Social Work Specialist for the Cedars-Sinai Supportive Care Medicine team and Palliative Care Social Worker for the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Inpatient Palliative Care Consultation service. Her professional and research interests include aging, health, palliative care, interpforessional education and practice.
Blair Golden
Position title: Assistant Professor (CHS), School of Medicine and Public Health
Blair Golden, MD, MS is a hospitalist physician and health services researcher. Her research interests involve patient-physician-caregiver communication and improving caregiver engagement during hospitalization events for older adults.
Kari Hirvela
Position title: Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist at UW Hospital and Clinics
Kari Hirvela, DNP, RN is a Geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist who leads the Age Friendly Health Systems Initiative at UW Hospital and Clinics. She previously taught in the UW–Madison School of Nursing Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program.
Adrienne Johnson
Position title: Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, General Internal Medicine
Adrienne Johnson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, General Internal Medicine, UW Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in health psychology and the treatment of individuals with neurological disorders. Her research focuses on reducing the negative impacts of smoking and better understanding the role of smoking on brain health, particularly Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Farah Acher Kaiksow
Position title: Assistant Professor (CHS), Division of Hospital Medicine in the Department of Medicine
Farah Acher Kaiksow, MD, MPP, FHM focuses on providing acute care to adult patients in inpatient settings at both the UW Health and VA hospitals. She provides clinical instruction to medical students and residents on the inpatient wards. She teaches in “The Intersection of Incarceration and Health,” an elective course for medical students that includes such topics as infection control, addiction and mental health, conducting research within correctional facilities, and caring for chronic conditions after release. Her scholarly interests include health inequities and how public and health policy can reduce these inequities. Her previous work examined the financial implications of Medicare hospitalization policies on patients of different socioeconomic status. She is currently studying the impact of incarceration on health, particularly among the aging population of incarcerated individuals.
Jooyoung Kong
Position title: Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Jooyoung Kong, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Guided by the life-course perspective, her research focuses on the effects that adverse childhood experiences have on later-life outcomes, including health, intergenerational caregiving, and elder abuse victimization. Her work involves quantitative analyses of large-scale longitudinal surveys, such as the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) and the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS).
Kristin Litzelman
Position title: Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Studies
Kristin Litzelman, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Studies at the UW–Madison School of Human Ecology and a State Specialist with UW Cooperative Extension’s Family Living Programs. Her research centers around how illness impacts families, primarily through the lens of family caregiving. She is particularly interested in the ways that caregivers and care recipients influence one another’s health and well-being, and how we can help caregivers take care of themselves so that they can take care of their loved ones.
Kimberly Mueller
Position title: Assistant Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Kim Mueller, PhD researches the neural mechanisms and behavioral aspects of speech and language changes across the spectrum of normal aging, preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and other forms of dementia. Her work utilizes naturalistic speech-language samples as one means of analyzing and understanding subtle changes to communication. She is also interested in the design and testing of identification methods of early cognitive change in the presence of AD biomarkers, and multimodal therapeutic interventions to address cognitive-communication difficulties in MCI and dementia due to neurodegenerative disease.
Ozioma Okonkwo
Position title: Professor, Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology in the Department of Medicine
Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD is a neuropsychologist and executive committee member at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention. His research focuses on clarifying how alterations in the brain and other biomolecules (such as cerebrospinal fluid β-amyloid) place some cognitively-normal individuals on a trajectory that culminates in probable Alzheimer’s disease. He is also interested in discovering new knowledge concerning the modulation of the link between brain changes and cognitive decline by both modifiable (e.g., cognitively-stimulating activities, physical exercise) and non-modifiable (e.g., genetic vulnerability) factors.
Kristen Pickett
Position title: Assistant Professor, Occupational Therapy Program
Kristen Pickett, PhD focuses on collaborative and community-based research methods aimed at positively impacting health outcomes for older adults, especially those with Parkinson disease (PD), who have limited access to effective forms of physical activity. Her Sensory Motor Integration Lab delivers physical activity interventions in-home via telehealth and through group classes held at community-based facilities. She works with community partners to conduct research for individuals with PD, as well as rural-dwelling and other under-served older adults, who lack access to facilities for physical activity.
Laura Andrea Prieto
Position title: Postdoctoral Trainee, School of Medicine and Public Health
Laura Andrea Prieto, PhD is a Postdoctoral Trainee in the UW–Madison Department of Family Medicine and Community Health. She earned her PhD in Kinesiolgy at UW–Madison with a concentration on Motor Control and Behavior and adapted physical activity. Her research focus is on adapted physical activity and dance for people with disabilities, specifically for Latine/x older adults with disabilities. She plans to expand her dissertation work to working with Latine/x older adults with Parkinson’s disease.
Tracy Schroepfer
Position title: Professor, School of Social Work
Tracy Schroepfer, MSW, PhD conducts research focused on 1) improving the care provided to elders who are seriously or terminally ill by determining the best strategies for meeting their psychosocial, cultural, and spiritual needs; and 2) gaining understanding and addressing the barriers to quality health care experienced by medically underserved communities. She also conducts workshops on positive dementia care skills, as well as addressing the spiritual and cultural needs of people living with dementia. Her research is informed by her former practice as a hospice social worker and community work.
Jung-hye Shin
Position title: Professor and Chair, Design Studies Department in the School of Human Ecology
Jung-hye Shin, PhD focuses on aging in place in her research and teaching, mainly the accessibility issues in residential and community buildings. The importance of the physical environment at home and the surrounding community has been well demonstrated but has not been well integrated into the existing body of literature about aging in place. Her current project involves developing an app that allows experts and laypeople to evaluate the home environment for various functional limitations and issues of aging in place and further provide guidelines on potential action items. Dr. Shin is also the Faculty Director of Design Thinking with the Center for Design and Material Culture.
Sue Wenker
Position title: Associate Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health
Sue Wenker, PT, PhD, MS, is a geriatric certified specialist emeritus, an associate professor with the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and a faculty associate with the Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. Clinically, she has been a member of interprofessional teams in both community settings and hospital and skilled nursing facilities. Wenker is currently conducting research focused on teaching and learning interventions for physical therapy students regarding dementia and related diseases.
Paula Woywod
Position title: UW Health
Paula Woywod, DNP, MSN, RN, CHSE co-authored CARE’s Dementia Friendly Toolkit and Dementia Friendly Hospital Toolkit. Previously, she taught School of Nursing students in simulated learning environments. She has practice experience in medical surgical, cardiac, and intensive care settings. She is passionate about incorporating active learning and education to support the care for older adults in clinical and community settings.
Student Scholars
Laura Block
Laura Block, BS, BSN, RN is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin—Madison School of Nursing with a focus on long-term care and cognitive aging among older adults with serious mental illness. Her role as a Registered Nurse in a skilled nursing environment, with added pressures during the COVID-19 pandemic, has deepened her commitment to dementia-focused research in post-acute and long-term care settings. She also works as a Project Assistant for Dr. Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi, supporting research studies focused on promoting effective and equitable care and research for persons living with and at risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Abigail Bradfield
Abigail Bradfield is a PhD candidate with Dr. Kristen Pickett and the Sensory Motor Integration Lab within the department of Kinesiology in the Occupational Science Track. She is interested in the access to appropriate physical activity programming for older adults who are underserved and underrepresented in research. She is passionate about improving quality of life through public health and preventative approaches.
Hyojin (Jina) Choi
Hyojin (Jina) Choi is a doctoral student in the UW–Madison School of Human Ecology’s Human Development and Family Studies program. Jina’s work focuses on the life changes of family caregivers. She is interested in examining the factors that impact families experiencing caregiving and developing policy to support them in their roles. She is especially interested in the factors that contribute to resilience for family caregivers who are able to handle this role of caregiving and its accompanying stress while maintaining healthy relationships.
Victoria Knoke
Victoria Knoke, MSW is a PhD candidate in the UW—Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Her research focuses on aging and end of life needs for adults with developmental disabilities. She is particularly interested in promoting self determination and ensuring adults with cognitive impairment have a voice in their own care at the end of life. Her work is strongly influenced by her background as a social worker in a variety of aging and disability positions.
Jingxi Li
Jingxi Li, BSN, MSN is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin—Madison School of Nursing with a focus on self-management and physical activities among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. She is especially interested in interdisciplinary research and innovation to support older adult health.