Our alumni are part of Scripps Gerontology Center's legacy

Members of the Alumni Advisory Group

Julia Creswell '15, Assistant Coach, Otterbein Small Homes

Ross Farnsworth '09, Executive Director, The Knolls of Oxford

Chelsea Gilchrist '14, Program Associate, Center for Healthy Aging at NCOA

Julie Kaminski '00, Director, Leading Age Nebraska

David Mancuso '99, Director of Development and Community Relations, LifeSpan

Kathryn Myles '91, Alumni Relations, Miami University

Dan O'Connor '84, Chief Operating Officer, Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services

Quanhong Qiu '01, Executive Director, Compassionate Community Care

Marisa Scala '95, Director, Office of Integrated Care Innovations , Administration for Community Living

Abby Schwartz '05, Assistant Professor, East Carolina University

Sarah Boehle '15, Assistant Professor, Shawnee State University

Anna Rahman '11, Researcher, University of Southern California, LA

Taka Yamashita '11, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

For the first time in recent years we've got a brand-new group of research staff, all hired at about the same time, and learning from each other as they share close quarters.

Erin Kelly, MSW - Research Associate, Upham 370A
Erin earned her Master's Degree in Social Work from Indiana University with a concentration in Mental Health and Addictions in May 2015.  Before joining the team at Scripps, she worked as a Licensed Social Worker for a non-profit hospice and palliative care center in South Bend, Indiana.   Her experience with hospice sparked a passion for assisting individuals and families with making their own end-of-life decisions and for steering the medical model focus to patient-centered care.  

She wanted her work to impact the barriers that affected families and individuals from having the end-of-life care and experience they desired.  "I strongly felt that the only way to do this was through gaining experience in impact and outcome research to reflect the need for patient-centered care.  After my interview, I knew that Scripps was the place to gain the experience given the wealth of knowledge and history of success coming from the staff and fellows."  

Erin is currently involved with five active projects at varying levels.  

• The No Wrong Door Project looks at consumer experience and satisfaction in navigating long-term care services with the implementation of the No Wrong Door Policy. The intent is that no matter where an individual goes to seek long-term services and supports, they will be referred to get the assistance they need through an integrated system.
• A project with the Ohio Means Jobs Centers focuses on older workers' satisfaction with their employment services.
• Three projects with the National Association for Area Agencies on Aging, seeking to understand the capacity of the Aging Network and the services provided across the U.S. 

"I feel that my work with Scripps will make a difference in the lives of the aging population, by assisting agencies in developing tools to measure and track consumer experience.  These tools will allow agencies to address areas of success and growth, thus modifying or expanding programming to meet the growing and changing needs of the people they serve."  

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Ryan Shanley, MGS - Research Associate, Upham 370B
Ryan earned his Master's in Gerontological Studies from Miami University in May 2016. During his time as a Graduate Assistant he worked with many Scripps staff members on multiple research projects. He also wrote for and edited the Scripps website and social media pages.
 
Ryan cites the collegial work environment at Scripps for his decision to join the team. "From my first day as a student I've been regarded as a colleague. Everyone at Scripps is treated with the same level of respect - it doesn't matter if you are faculty, staff, or student - and that is what I love about this place." Ryan continues "In my interview for Research Associate, I could tell that I was going to be given a lot of responsibility, which showed me that they have a great deal of respect for me as a researcher. This meant a lot to me, considering the expertise of the staff here at Scripps."

Ryan's work at Scripps supports several projects covering many topics:

• What Matters Most - The objective of this project is to identify everyday living preferences that can inform and improve the service delivery process and outcomes for Ohio's PASSPORT program.
• READINESS to Respond to Assessed Caregiver Needs - He is an integral part of the team conducting focus groups with all of the Area Agencies on Aging throughout Ohio to assess how ready the agencies are to implement a standardized Caregiver Assessment tool.
• Evaluation of Enhanced Service Coordination in Ohio's Affordable Public Housing - Enhanced Service Coordinators are employees who, through careful assessment, can evaluate the health and social needs of residents and develop individualized service plans. The research is conducting an impact evaluation of the service coordination at several properties throughout Ohio.
• SASI Transportation - The purpose of this project is to validate and refine an existing tool for assessing service adequacy and satisfaction with medical transportation services.   

 
Ryan shared that his primary goal in life is to help others in ways that they cannot help themselves; "I have realized that research is a way for me to do that. Whether I am working to refine a tool that will improve medical transportation services, or I am conducting focus groups that will help develop a training to better prepare agencies with assessing caregiver needs, I know that I am indirectly helping hundreds of older adults receive better services and direct care. It is a great feeling knowing that with every research project I'm involved with, I am achieving my primary goal."

Kendall completed her PhD in public health from The Ohio State University in May 2016, with a focus on promoting the health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their caregivers.  In her previous position, she worked at a national public health non-profit in Washington, D.C. serving the nation's 2,800 local health departments.

Kendall wanted to the join the Scripps team to gain post-doctoral research experience, as well as learn about the field of gerontology. She shared, "Immediately after my phone interview, I had a great feeling inside due the warmth and intelligence of the research team and I knew that I truly wanted to join the Scripps family."  

At Scripps, Kendall is the project manager for the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory (PELI) project, which aims to promote preference-based, person-centered care in Ohio's nursing homes. This is a statewide initiative that has the ability to reach all of Ohio's 960+ nursing homes to improve resident care. 

Kendall shared, "I believe that my work with Scripps has the ability to make a positive difference in the lives of nursing home residents by honoring their most strongly held preferences, as well as nursing home employees. We are still in the beginning stages of this project and I am eager to see how this project can positively impact the lives of others."