Robyn’s personal experience of having three grandparents develop dementia in their senior years drove her to further her understanding of dementia and its effects on families. Her career followed her passion, allowing her to provide support to the families of individuals with dementia.

Robyn is a Study Counselor at the University of Minnesota. She provides a 6-session counseling and support protocol to families whose loved one has recently moved into long-term care using the Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM). This intervention is specifically designed to support this caregiving experience. Robyn collaborates with family members, typically adult children or spouses, guiding them through the transition process of moving a family member into long term care. Over the course of the 5-year study and with the help of the 240 participating families, Robyn and the RCTM team will evaluate the effectiveness of this counseling intervention.

After arriving to the U.S in late 2004, Elma first worked as a Community Outreach Coordinator with small, immigrant-owned businesses in south Minneapolis. She later became a Spanish and Bosnian medical interpreter at Hennepin Healthcare, where she has since worked as supervisor of interpreter services, innovations project manager and patient experience project consultant. Her professional and research interests include health communication and person-centered care, minority health and health innovation.

“Working at a large safety-net health system like Hennepin Healthcare has been a truly eye-opening and humbling experience. It has given me the opportunity to understand the complexities of our healthcare systems and see first-hand the many barriers people encounter in leading healthy and fulfilling lives. There is great value in understanding people’s cultural experiences of care, and leveraging diverse approaches to health to address the many health inequalities we collectively face. I am passionate about building supportive communities that will create opportunities for everyone to thrive and contribute, at all stages and paths in life.”

Prior to joining our team, she practiced as a nurse practitioner providing on-site primary care in the long term care setting. She is involved with various projects including the Residential Care Transition Module (RCTM), PorchLight Project, and Care to Plan.

Quinton plans to develop, test, and disseminate novel interventions that address the needs of Black American AD/ADRD caregivers. He possesses a deep commitment to team science, applied research, and equity-driven practices that improve health and social conditions of Black Americans, especially AD/ADRD caregivers. His growing program of research draws on qualitative and mixed-methods research methodology and examines three harmonious dimensions: (1) the influence of life events and trajectories on health and wellbeing, (2) optimization of health and social service supports, and (3) community-level intervention design and implementation.