Rigorous Vetting Process for Programs and Technological Solutions
The Scientific Advisory Group will be responsible for data analysis, strategic assessment of interventions, and determining tiers of inclusion for social isolation solutions, which will then be communicated to the Clearinghouse Council for decision-making around implementation and scale.
The charge of the Scientific Advisory Group will be to help provide clearinghouse users with transparency regarding the level of evidence associate with the programs and technologies suggested. The Scientific Advisory Group will Identify innovative/emerging technologies and programs addressing social isolation; determine criteria for inclusion in Clearinghouse, particularly for those that have not yet been rigorously tested/fully evidence-based; recommend a screening mechanism/tool for people coming into the clearinghouse and ways to monitor and build on it.
The Scientific Advisory Group will be comprised of up to 10 individuals from diverse backgrounds and with a wide range of expertise in evaluation and evidence-based programs related to social isolation. Members will serve 2-3-year terms, with the option to renew membership.
Members
John Tschida, Executive Director, Assoc. of University Centers on Disabilities
John Tschida, Executive Director, Assoc. of University Centers on Disabilities
John Tschida has spent more than 20 years using data and research to drive policy change and service development for individuals with disabilities. Before joining AUCD in February of 2017, he was appointed as director if the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. NIDILRR is the federal government’s premier applied research agency impacting individuals with disabilities.
Prior to joining NIDILRR in 2014, he served as director of public policy and innovation at Allina Health in Minnesota, where he helped integrate medical and community-based services for people with disabilities. At the Courage Center, Minnesota’s leading nonprofit provider of rehabilitation services, Mr. Tschida was vice president of public affairs and research. There, he built and directed a public policy and research team that focused on defining and achieving better outcomes for people with disabilities. He also led a statewide, cross-disability legislative coalition of more than 100 provider and advocacy organizations.
Mr. Tschida, who has lived with a spinal cord injury since 1993, has a master’s degree in public policy and a health services research certificate from Georgetown University, and a bachelor of arts from Macalester College
Dr. Matthew Smith, Co-Director, Texas A&M University Center for Population Health and Aging
Dr. Matthew Smith, Co-Director, Texas A&M University Center for Population Health and Aging
Matthew Lee Smith, PhD, MPH, CHES, FAAHB, FGSA is the co-director of the Texas A&M University Center for Population Health and Aging (CPHA). He is an associate professor in the Texas A&M School of Public Health and adjunct associate professor in The University of Georgia College of Public Health. Smith serves as the co-lead of the Texas Active for Life® Coalition. He holds leadership roles in organizations including the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), American Public Health Association (APHA), American Society on Aging (ASA), and American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB). Smith is a Fellow of AAHB and GSA, recipient of multiple national awards (early career, leadership in aging, mentorship), and has received numerous innovative program and best paper awards.
Recognizing health status is influenced by a vast interconnected set of social, behavioral, and environmental determinants, Smith has devoted his career to create synergistic partnerships and initiatives to encourage positive lifestyles and reduce rates of preventable morbidity and mortality. His research and evaluation efforts investigate socio-ecological impacts on health risk behaviors across the life-course, with a specific emphasis on social isolation and evidence-based programming for older adults (e.g., fall prevention, disease self-management). Smith has established expertise in the evaluation of programs and innovations pertaining to an array of public health issues. Smith has (co-) authored over 260 peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals, received over 20 research-based awards, and delivered over 450 conference presentations and invited lectures. He received his bachelor’s degree in Public Health Education and Master of Public Health (MPH) from Indiana University-Bloomington and his doctoral degree in Health Education from Texas A&M University. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Texas A&M School of Rural Public Health.
Dr. Eden Litt, UX Researcher, Facebook
Dr. Eden Litt, UX Researcher, Facebook
Eden Litt, PhD, is a lead strategic researcher at Facebook. Utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods, her work explores the impact that social media has on some of today’s biggest societal challenges including topics like loneliness, well-being, and polarization. The ultimate goal of her research and strategy work is to help learn to harness the power of social media, while reducing its risks. Dr. Litt’s empirically-driven strategic advice has been used to help make key decisions on technologies that billions of people use globally. She has presented her research to government officials, policymakers, academic researchers, the press, and non-profits around the world
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Researcher, Brigham Young University
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Researcher, Brigham Young University
Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad’s research is focused on the long-term health effects of social connection. Her work has been seminal in the recognition of social isolation and loneliness as risk factors for early mortality. Dr. Holt-Lunstad has worked with government organizations aimed at addressing this issue. She has provided expert testimony in a US Congressional Hearing, provided expert recommendations for the US Surgeon General Emotional Well-Being in America Initiative, and is currently a member of the technical working group for the UK Cross Departmental Loneliness Team. She also serves as a scientific advisor for the Australian Coalition to End Loneliness, the Foundation for Art & Healing, and research advisory panel for AARP Services, Inc., United Healthcare, and Rural Aging. She has been awarded the Citation Award for Excellence in Research by the Society of Behavioral Medicine, the George A. Miller Award from the American Psychological Association, the Mary Lou Fulton Young Scholar Award, the Marjorie Pay Hinkley Endowed Chair Research Award, and is a Fellow for the Association of Psychological Science. Her work has been highlighted in the BBC 100 Breakthrough Health Discoveries in 2015, and has been covered in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, Scientific American, This American Life, The Today Show, and other major media outlets.
Larry Goldberg, Head of Accessibility, Verizon Media
Larry Goldberg, Head of Accessibility, Verizon Media
Larry Goldberg leads Accessibility at Verizon Media. In 1990, he founded and directed the WGBH National Center for Accessible Media, an R&D center for new media policy, standards and innovation. Prior to that, he directed WGBH’s Media Access Group, the world’s first caption and audio description production unit. Specialties include access technologies on all platforms and all forms of content, including video, innovations in media delivery and use, R&D, policy development, user/community/customer relations, holder of patent for invention in film industry, consultation for major high technology companies, Federal and state agencies, members of Congress and staffs; business development. Crafted and implemented Federal legislation and regulations pertaining to technology accessibility.
Dr. Louise Hawkley, Senior Research Scientist, NORC at the University of Chicago
Dr. Louise Hawkley, Senior Research Scientist, NORC at the University of Chicago
Dr. Louise Hawkley’s research focuses on the role of psychosocial factors, particularly loneliness and social isolation, in explaining individual differences in health and well-being in older adulthood. Her current work on the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). Prior to her position at the NORC, she was Director of the Social Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago where she was an investigator on NIA-funded studies of loneliness and its antecedents and consequences in middle to older adulthood. She was also a co-investigator on a randomized clinical trial funded by the Department of the Army to evaluate the effects of a social resilience intervention on Soldiers’ job performance and health outcomes. She has given invited lectures and panel presentations for academic and service institutions in Spain, Hungary, France, England, as well as the United States. Hawkley is a member of the American Society on Aging and the Gerontological Society of America.
Dr. Tracey Gendron, Chair / Assoc. Professor Gerentology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Tracey Gendron, Chair / Assoc. Professor Gerentology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr.Tracey Gendron is the Chair and an associate professor of Gerontology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She teaches several graduate service-based courses including grant writing, research methods and biology of aging. Tracey takes an all-inclusive approach to teaching about aging, particularly highlighting those understudied and underrepresented groups that are at increased risk of negative health outcomes based on discrimination. Her personal and professional goal is to raise awareness of how deeply embedded ageism is within all cultures and settings.
Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Thomas Kofi Mensah Cudjoe is a Geriatric Medicine Specialist in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated with honors from Rutgers R W Johnson Medical School (cam / New Bruns / Pisc) in 2012. Having more than 8 years of diverse experiences, especially in Geriatric Medicine. Dr. Thomas Kofi Mensah Cudjoe affiliates with Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, cooperates with many other doctors and specialists in many medical groups including Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Cudjoe is a premier researcher on social isolation with a specific focus on low-income communities.
Verena Cimarolli, Ph.D., Senior Health Services Researcher, LeadingAge LTSS Center
Verena Cimarolli, Ph.D., Senior Health Services Researcher, LeadingAge LTSS Center
Verena Cimarolli, Ph.D., is senior health services research associate in the Washington, DC, office of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston. She holds doctoral and master’s degrees in applied developmental psychology from Fordham University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from City College of the City University of New York.
Cimarolli’s research focuses on identifying psychosocial challenges faced by older adults with chronic illness and their adaptation to these challenges. Her research also identifies best strategies and interventions for supporting older adults with chronic illness and their families. In this area, she has evaluated initiatives offering person-centered care, substance abuse recovery services in post-acute settings, and technology interventions for frail older adults.
Dr. Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, SVP and Chief Health Equity, Cedars-Sinai
Dr. Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, SVP and Chief Health Equity, Cedars-Sinai
Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN, is Cedars-Sinai’s inaugural senior vice president and chief health equity officer. Dr. Burnes Bolton, the inaugural holder of the James R. Klinenberg, MD, and Lynn Klinenberg Linkin Chair in Nursing, was named vice president of nursing in 1991. In June 2019, she retired from the role of senior vice president and chief nurse executive and assumed her current role.
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Dr. Burnes Bolton has impacted healthcare policy, clinical practice and patient care nationally while elevating the role and enhancing the professional training of nurses. Her leadership activities have included serving as president of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the National Black Nurses Association and the American Academy of Nursing. She served as chair of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Advisory Committee for Transforming Care at the Bedside, Veteran Affairs Commission on Nursing and vice chair of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Initiative on the Future of Nursing at the Institute of Medicine. She is a trustee of Case Western Reserve University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Dr. Burnes Bolton has received numerous honors. She was named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in 2016 and received the 2016 TRUST Award from the American Hospital Association for visionary leadership in healthcare. In 2015, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from the State University of New York. She is the recipient of two additional lifetime achievement awards from the National Black Nurses Association and the American Organization for Nurse Leaders.
Dr. Burnes Bolton earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing from Arizona State University and a master of science degree in nursing, master’s degree in public health and a doctorate degree in public health from UCLA.