Full Name
María Aranda, PhD, MSW, MPA, LCSW
Credentials
PhD, MSW, MPA, LCSW
Role
Associate Team Leader, Health Equity Team (HET)
Primary title
Professor
Primary Institution
USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Complete Titles
Professor, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Executive Director, USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging
Director, Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement Core, USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC)
Co-Lead, Research Education Core, USC Alzheimer's Disease-Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (AD-RCMAR)
Bio
María P. Aranda, PhD, is a professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, executive director of the USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging, and director of the Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement core of the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She is also the Co-Lead for the Research Education Core of the USC AD-RCMAR. Her research specializations address the unique needs of middle-age and older adults with co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and neurocognitive illnesses, and their caregiving families from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. She focuses on psychosocial intervention development, and evaluation of bilingual, evidence-based interventions that are responsive to community needs. Dr. Aranda is a licensed clinical social worker with over 30 years of experience providing mental health services to middle-aged and older adults and their families including people with limited English proficiency. She has served on several national and state committees dedicated to elucidating research priorities and standard of care guidelines for individuals, families and communities affected by chronic diseases including Alzheimer's and related dementias.
Core/Team Associations
Full Name
Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD
Credentials
PhD
Role
Executive Committee, Health Equity Team (HET)
Primary title
Research Professor of Health Policy & Management
Primary Institution
Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)
Complete Titles
Research Professor of Health Policy & Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC)
Bio
Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD, is a research professor of health policy & management at Gillings School of Global Public Health University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC). Dr. Dilworth-Anderson’s research and publications focus on caregiving to people living with dementia in cultural context and health disparities and Alzheimer’s disease in medically underserved diverse populations. She has received numerous awards including the 2010 Ronald & Nancy Reagan Alzheimer’s Research Award, the 2018 Pearmain Prize for Excellence in Research on Aging by the University of Southern California (USC) Roybal Institute on Aging. In recognition of her commitment to diversity and inclusion, UNC awarded her the 2018 University Diversity Award. She has served in numerous leadership roles relating to aging including as president, Gerontological Society of America, board member of the National Alzheimer’s Association, member of the National Research Advisory Council of the Institute on Aging/NIH, member of the AARP Global Council on Brain Health, and current and past member of committees of the National Academies of Medicine, formerly Institute of Medicine.
Core/Team Associations
Full Name
Ladson Hinton, MD
Credentials
MD
Role
Executive Committee, Health Equity Team (HET)
Primary title
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Primary Institution
University of California, Davis
Complete Titles
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis
Bio
Ladson Hinton, MD, is a geriatric psychiatrist, clinical and services researcher, and social scientist. Over the past two decades, Dr Hinton has conducted interdisciplinary research using both qualitative and quantitative methods to understand cultural and social dimensions of family caregiving for older adults living with Alzheimer’s disease. He has applied this knowledge to develop innovative and culturally-appropriate intervention approaches to advance care and services for underserved populations in the US and globally (Vietnam and Thailand). Dr. Hinton was a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine ad hoc Committee on Family Caregiving (2014-2016), PI of the NIA-funded Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) (2012-2019), and director of the Outreach and Recruitment Core for the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center (2005-2017). He is co-assistant director of the Family Caregiving Institute in the School of Nursing.
Core/Team Associations
Full Name
Ellen McCarthy, PhD, MPH
Credentials
PhD, MPH
Role
Executive Director, Executive Committee, IMPACT Collaboratory
Primary title
Executive Director
Primary Institution
Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Complete Titles
Associate Scientist, Palliative Care, Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research
Associate Professor of Medicine & Epidemiology, Harvard University
Faculty, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Bio
Ellen McCarthy, PhD, MPH, is an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard and associate scientist in the Palliative Care in Aging Research Center at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research in Boston. She is an epidemiologist and health services researcher with extensive experience in research, administration, and training. Dr. McCarthy has led research aimed at improving care of older patients with advanced illness with a focus on reducing healthcare disparities among underserved, older populations. She has worked across diverse groups of patients, caregivers, providers, healthcare systems, and investigators to inform strategies to navigate research activities across these complex environments. Her expertise includes using clinical data and Medicare-linked databases to address research questions in older people. Dr. McCarthy previously served as assistant dean for development and diversity at Harvard Medical School. She participates in several Harvard fellowship programs and has mentored many successful investigators in aging research.
Core/Team Associations
Name
Full Name
Kate Peak, MPH
Credentials
MPH
Role
Core Navigator, Health Equity Team
Primary title
Research Associate
Primary Institution
Oregon Health & Science University
Complete Titles
Research Associate, Oregon Health & Science University
Bio
Kate Peak, MPH, is a research associate with the Oregon Health and Science University where she has worked on projects related to health disparities among older adults with multiple chronic conditions since 2019. Kate has a background in public health research. She has worked on studies assessing the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the mental physical well-being of families in southeast Louisiana and provided technical assistance to PCORI awardees building multi-stakeholder teams for comparative effectiveness research. Kate Peak received her master’s in public health from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center.
Core/Team Associations
Full Name
Ana Quiñones, PhD, MS
Credentials
PhD, MS
Role
Team Leader, Health Equity Team (HET), Steering Committee
Primary title
Associate Professor
Primary Institution
Oregon Health & Science University, Department of Family Medicine
Complete Titles
Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, Oregon Health & Science University
Bio
Ana Quiñones, PhD, MS, is an associate professor of family medicine at Oregon Health & Science University with an affiliate appointment at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Dr. Quiñones is a gerontologist trained in health services organization and policy from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Her research interests are focused on addressing racial and ethnic differences in trajectories of age-related changes in health--particularly in co-existing chronic diseases (multimorbidity) including dementia--and evaluating health care delivery changes designed to improve the management of multimorbidity for vulnerable older adults. She has led multiple NIH, NIA, and foundation-funded studies investigating racial and ethnic differences in multimorbidity. These include studies that trace the development and progression of multimorbidity over time and that seek to identify chronic disease combinations associated with greater cognitive decline and dementia among racially and ethnically diverse populations.
Core/Team Associations
Full Name
Rafael Samper-Ternent, MD, PhD
Credentials
MD, PhD
Role
Executive Committee, Health Equity Team (HET)
Primary title
Associate Professor
Primary Institution
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston School of Public Health
Complete Titles
Associate Professor, Department of Management, Policy & Community Health
Bio
Rafael Samper-Ternent, MD, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Management, Policy & Community Health at UTHealth Houston. He received his medical degree in Bogota, Colombia in 2004, followed by his PhD in health services research from UTMB in 2012. Dr. Samper-Ternent then returned to clinical practice and completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in geriatrics, in 2016. He returned to UTMB in 2017 and developed a career as a clinician-scientist with the goal of producing evidence that informs interventions that improve well-being of Hispanic older adults and their caregivers. He joined UTHealth Houston in 2022 and his work is focused on adapting evidence-based interventions to improve outcomes of older Hispanics with multiple chronic conditions and dementia and their family caregivers. He also leads the cultural adaptation process of the Patient Priorities Care approach for older Hispanics.
Core/Team Associations