Zachary Baker, PhD, is a Robert L. Kane postdoctoral fellow working in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Baker's aim is 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). Dr. Baker is currently funded through a career development award from the National Institute on Aging, focused on former dementia caregivers (K99 AG073463) and convene the Supporting Dementia Caregivers After Death Community Advisory Board.

Joseph Gaugler, PhD, is the Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care & Aging in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He is the director of the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation in the School of Public Health, the BOLD Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Caregiving, the EMBRACE AD/ADRD Roybal Center (with Dr. Gilmore-Bykvoskyi), and the State Alzheimer's Research Support Center (with Drs. Shih and Samus). Dr. Gaugler’s research examines the sources and effectiveness of long-term care for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic conditions. An applied gerontologist, Dr. Gaugler’s interests include Alzheimer’s disease and long-term care, the longitudinal ramifications of family care for people living with dementia and other chronic conditions, and the effectiveness of community-based and psychosocial services for older people living with dementia and their caregiving families. Underpinning these substantive areas, Dr. Gaugler also has interests in mixed methods and implementation science.

Lauren Parker, PhD, is an assistant scientist in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society. Her research examines how home-and-community based supports can be used to address the cultural needs of African American and Hispanic caregivers for people living with dementia. With funding from the NIA, she examines the influence of adult day services (ADS) on physiological and psychosocial stressors for African American caregivers. This line of research integrates biological and psychosocial indicators of stress. Another area of scholarly interest is to disseminate and implement culturally tailored stress-reduction interventions into real world settings. Dr. Parker is the co-investigator on two NIA- funded research studies to culturally adapt the ADS Plus program for Hispanic and African American caregivers and she serves on the Leadership Core of Public Health Center of Excellence in Dementia Caregiving at the University of Minnesota.