Carmel Bitondo Dyer, MD, FACP, AGSF

Carmel Bitondo Dyer, MD graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in 1988. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. Dr. Dyer established and directed the Geriatrics Program at the Harris County Hospital District from 1993-2006. In January 2007, she became the director of a new division of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Dr. Dyer is the Roy M. & Phyllis Gough Huffington Chair in Gerontology and a full professor of Internal Medicine. Dr. Dyer established and codirects the Texas Elder Abuse and Mistreatment (TEAM) Institute, a collaboration between UT Houston, Baylor, the Harris County Hospital District, and the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services. Her research and publications are in the area of elder neglect and the interdisciplinary approach to abused or neglected elders and leads a county-wide elder abuse fatality review team. She has made over 150 presentations, including testimony before the U.S. Senate Finance committee on behalf of mistreated elders. She is the co-editor of a recently published book on interdisciplinary elder mistreatment teams and the PI of a number of federal grants.

Sharon K. Ostwald, PhD, RN, CS

Dr. Sharon K. Ostwald received in bachelor's degree in nursing from Wheaton College, and her MS in public health and her PhD in adult education from the University of Minnesota. She was one of the first nurse in Minnesota to become an Adult and Geriatric Nurse Practitioner in 1972. In addition to being a nurse practitioner in primary and long term care, she taught at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and School of Nursing for 20 years. Dr. Ostwald came to Texas in 1994 as a Professor at the School of Nursing, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, joined the Center on Aging (COA) as the Associate Director of Aging Research, and was named the Theodore J. and Mary E. Trumble Professor of Aging Research. In 1996, she became the Director for the COA holding that position for the last 8 years. She is the Isla Carroll Turner Chair in Gerontological Nursing at the COA and has an adjunct appointment as a Professor in the School of Public Health and in the Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. She has been a visiting scholar and professor in England, Scotland, Sweden, and Thailand. She has conducted numerous funded research studies with frail older people and their caregivers, including an intervention study for families of persons with dementia and stroke survivors and their spouses funded by the National Institutes of Health. She is currently co-PI with Dr. Carmel Dyer of the Houston Geriatric Education Center that focuses on the education of professionals for work with the vulnerable elderly, particularly those experiencing abuse, neglect or exploitation.

Donna Warren Morris, R.D.H., M.Ed.

Donna is an associate professor in the Department of Periodontics at the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston. She has been in dental hygiene education for 30 years, teaching community dental health and dental health education. Her primary research focus is preventive dental health and oral disease interventions. She currently is collaborating with dental and nursing faculty on the production of a video for nursing home staff on oral care for the elderly.

Jacquelyn Slomka, Ph.D.

Jacquelyn Slomka, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, School of Public Health. Her background and experience include nursing, cultural anthropology and biomedical ethics. She currently teaches public health ethics and ethics of research and research practice to graduate students in public health. Her research interests are decision making in health care and the social, cultural and ethical dimensions of research and research participation.

June Sadowsky, DDS, MPH

June Sadowsky, DDS, MPH joined the faculty of UTHSC-H Dental Branch in 2006 teaching in the Medically Compromised Clinic and then in 2007, became Primary Bay Instructor for the fourth year class. She graduated from the (UTHSC-SA) Dental School and in 1993 returned to pursue a career of geriatric dentistry in a Fellowship Program that was part of a South Texas Geriatric Education Center and a consortium with UTHSC-SA Medical School, Dental School and the Audie L. Murphy Hospital. Upon completion, she undertook to do a special VA Fellowship in Research in Geriatrics in San Antonio and did dental epidemiologic research in Lower Rio Grande Valley nursing facilities. Dr. Sadowsky was a faculty member in the Department of Diagnostic Science at the UTHSC-SA Dental School and the Audie L. Murphy Hospital. A MPH was conferred in 1995. She was Co-PI in the NIDR/NIH Grant “Oral Health: San Antonio Longitudinal Study on Aging” (OH: SALSA) and was PI for two grants from the Aging Research and Education Center at UTHSCSA. Dr. Sadowsky has over ten years experience treating residents of Texas nursing homes since she began as a special needs practitioner, first in Bastrop, then in Houston, Texas. She also treated the residents at the Richmond (TX) State School. Dr. Sadowsky is a member of a legislatively-mandated Work Committee of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission established to develop a fee schedule and simplify the rules for treating the dental needs of Medicaid-eligible residents in Texas nursing facilities. She is currently Co-PI on the multidisciplinary Houston Geriatric Education Center grant with a focus on professional education in the abuse/neglect of the older vulnerable population.

Vaunette Fay, PhD, RNC, GNP, FNP

Dr. Vaunette Fay received her PhD in nursing theory development and research from Texas Woman's University in 1992. She received her Master of Science with a major in nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) from Texas Woman's University in Houston in 1974. She worked as a FNP for Harris County Hospital District- Sunnyside clinic and for Cardiology Associates prior to joining the faculty of University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Nursing in 1981. She is currently an Associate Professor, and since 1990 has served as track director for the Gerontological Nurse Practitioner track. In 1993, she became head of the Division of Gerontology at the UTHSC-Houston School of Nursing and in 1997 was appointed as Associate Director for Education at the UTHSC-H Center on Aging. She is a certified family nurse practitioner and a gerontological nurse practitioner. Dr. Fay teaches gerontological nursing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has had faculty practice positions as a GNP with Harris County Hospital District Settegast Clinic and is currently working with an Alzheimer's Day Care Center. Dr. Fay's research interests include the impact of co-morbidity on physical functioning in older adults and the competency level of nurses working in long term care. A focus of Dr. Fay's academic career has been development of nurse practitioner programs and interdisciplinary education.

Carolyn Kelley, PT, DSc, NCS

Carolyn is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical Therapy at Texas Woman's University in Houston, Texas. Her primary teaching responsibilities are in adult neurological rehabilitation. She also works as a physical therapist part-time in the post-polio clinic at TIRR Memorial Hermann - The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research and on the rehabilitation unit of Memorial Hermann Hospital. She is studying robotic assisted body weight supported treadmill training with stroke survivors and is interested in falling and fall prevention in stroke survivors, polio survivors, and elders.

Gayle I. Hersch, PhD, OTR

Gayle I. Hersch, PhD, OTR is a Professor and Doctoral Program Coordinator with the School of Occupational Therapy at Texas Woman’s University, Houston Center. Her major responsibilities are in the areas of teaching and research with master and doctoral students. Content areas of interest are: elder issues , e.g., family care giving, home safety and modification, and qualitative methodology. Funded grant research includes participation in the UT CAReS study, and now she and a team of TWU nursing faculty have been awarded a 2 year grant from NINR to study the adaptation of elders relocating to long term care facilities.

W. Andrew Achenbaum, Ph.D.

W. Andrew Achenbaum, Ph.D. is a professor of history and social work at the University of Houston. He also holds adjunct faculty appointments in the McGovern Center for Ethics and the Human Spirit, the Institute for Religion and Health, and the School of Public Health. Author of five books and co-editor of eleven others, Andy's most recent work is Older Americans, Vital Communities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005). Former board chair of the National Council on the Aging, he serves locally on the boards of the Holocaust Museum, Houston, the Alzheimer's Association, the Institute for Interfaith Dialog, and chairs The Center at Christ Church Cathedral. Achenbaum's contributions to research, teaching, and service have been recognized locally (the 2006 Valley Award) and nationally (NCOA's Geneva Mathiason Award, 2004, and the Gerontological Society's Kent Award, 2007).

J. David Hayes, R.Ph., Pharm.D., BCPS

Dr. Hayes received his Doctorate in Pharmacy from the University of Houston and completed his residency training at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas and Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple. He is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) granted through the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties, and serves as a Clinical Associate Professor with the University of Houston, College of Pharmacy. He is also a guest lecturer for the University of Texas, School of Nursing as well as Texas Women’s University. His clinical practice site is Kelsey-Seybold Clinic (KSC), a large multi-specialty group practice in Houston, Texas. Dr. Hayes provides medication therapy management services to primary care providers and their patients at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic. He is the Immediate Past-President of the Gulf Coast Society of Health System Pharmacists.