Abraham (Ab) Brody, PhD, RN, FAAN is Assistant Dean for Transformational Excellence in Aging, and the Mathy Mezey Professor of Geriatric Nursing and Professor of Medicine. In this capacity, he leads the robust Aging at Meyers portfolio of geriatrics and palliative care research, education, and external programs. He is also the founder of Aliviado Health, an implementation arm of HIGN focused on implementing high-quality, evidence-based care to support persons living with dementia and their care partners.

Prof. Brody’s research focuses on developing and testing interventions for diverse and underserved older adults with serious illnesses and their care partners. His work, tested in large-scale clinical trials leverages emerging technologies, including precision health and machine learning, to support the healthcare workforce, seriously ill individuals, and their families, and ensures that evidence-based solutions can be implemented effectively in real-world clinical settings.

An internationally recognized leader, he is uniquely situated amongst nurse scientist as a principal investigator of two large NIH funded consortiums. As an MPI of the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory, he works to advance the science of conducting large-scale pragmatic clinical trials to improve real-world care for persons living with dementia and their care partners. As an MPI of the ASCENT Palliative Care Consortium, he helps to build the next generation of palliative care science and scientists, where he leads the consortium’s methods cores as they build and support rigorous serious illness research. Prof. Brody is an experienced mentor and enjoys training early career faculty, PhD students, and post-doctoral scholars at NYU and nationally in geriatric and palliative care research.

Kristina began her career as a registered nurse and has since blended clinical insight with strategic leadership to improve systems of care for vulnerable populations. She is also the founder of Red Drop Resources, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting blood cancer patients and their families through practical, non-medical assistance — a cause close to her heart.

Kristina Wright-Peterson is an accomplished nonprofit leader and healthcare advocate with over a decade of experience leading mission-driven organizations. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care (MNHPC), where she works to strengthen compassionate care through statewide advocacy, education, and collaboration.

Rachel Bialostosky (she/her) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a decade of experience in palliative care. She has worked in both hospital and clinic settings, helping people cope with serious illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and ALS, as well as navigate end-of-life care. She believes that grief is a non-linear process and finds wonder in the human journey of loss, growth, and connection.

Jessica Hausauer, PhD is CEO of the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care. In this role, Jessica works with members to advance national policy priorities in serious illness care across the lifespan and to advance the Clinical Practice Guidelines for Quality Palliative Care. Jessica represents the Coalition on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Quality Care for People with Serious Illness, the Patient Quality of Life Coalition, and the Center for Excellence in Assisted Living at UNC. Prior to joining the Coalition, Jessica served as Executive Director of Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care. From 2020 to 2021, she co-convened the Minnesota Serious Illness Action Network to develop recommendations specific to serious illness care in the pandemic, palliative care policy and payment, and family caregiving. As chair of the Minnesota Palliative Care Advisory Council, Jessica leads efforts to assess access to palliative care across the state, analyze barriers, and make recommendations to the legislature. Jessica earned her PhD in Sociology from Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Dr. Baker aims to better understand, develop, evaluate, and disseminate technological tools and psychosocial resources that help caregivers and persons with dementia to thrive during and after the dementia caregiving process. This is accomplished through the use of advanced methods (e.g., interventions, longitudinal studies, event momentary assessment, dyadic data collection), statistics (e.g., multilevel modeling, structural equation modeling, response surface analysis), and psychological theory/perspectives (e.g., self-determination theory, attachment theory, positive psychology). He also considers collaborating with community partners an essential part of his work and convenes the Supporting Dementia Caregivers After Death Community Advisory Board.