Rosa Baier, MPH, is a professor of practice at Brown University’s School of Public Health, where she directs the Long-Term Care Quality & Innovation (Q&I) research group. Under her leadership, Q&I has developed durable partnerships and infrastructure to advance partnered pragmatic research that improves care for older adults. Professor Baier’s expertise lies in applying partner engagement, improvement science, and implementation evaluation to design interventions that are both rigorous and feasible under real-world conditions. Ms Baier holds leadership roles on NIH-funded national infrastructure initiatives, including the IMPACT Collaboratory and the LeaRRn Rehabilitation Research Network, which expand the field’s capacity for embedded pragmatic research through funding, training, and mentorship. Her contributions include co-developing the Readiness Assessment for Pragmatic Trials (RAPT) and RAPT-Indigenous models for trialists to strengthen their interventions' readiness for successful, pro-equity ePCTs and advancing approaches to pragmatic research that align studies with providers’ priorities and operational context.

Clark Benson, MPA is a researcher at the BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine in Dr. Andrea Gilmore-Bykovskyi’s cognitive care lab. A Master of Public Affairs graduate, Clark’s research interests center on understanding the impact of public policy on cognitively vulnerable people in settings and contexts that frequently receive little attention. Clark has over six years of experience leading studies that engage directly with people living with dementia and their caregivers.

Sarah Berry, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician and clinical researcher with expertise in falls and fractures, particularly in the nursing home setting. Her current funding includes a large pragmatic, randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy of a deprescribing care model and a bone health care model in older patients receiving post-acute care in a nursing home after a fracture. She enjoys mentoring trainees and junior faculty in patient-oriented aging research.

Jeffrey Burns, MD, MS, is a neurologist and the Edward H. Hashinger Professor and co-director of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (KU ADRC), one of 35 nationally designated centers in the country. Dr. Burns also directs his department’s neurocognitive division and the KU ADRC’s Clinical Core, which is a site for national clinical trial networks. Dr. Burns started the Alzheimer’s clinical research program at the University of Kansas Medical Center in 2004. His education includes a BA (English and Japanese) from the University of Notre Dame, medical school at the University of Kansas Medical Center, neurology residency at the University of Virginia, and a post-doctoral fellowship in Alzheimer’s at Washington University in St. Louis. He then returned to his hometown of Kansas City to start the Alzheimer’s clinical program to stimulate and support AD and aging research locally while investigating how various lifestyle factors influence brain aging and AD. The program has grown into a vibrant research and training environment for AD and brain aging research. Dr. Burns has been continuously funded as a PI by the NIH since 2005 for his work.