Sharon B. Arnold, Ph.D.
Dr. Arnold joined AcademyHealth in May 2003. She is currently the director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) initiative, which is the Foundation's major vehicle for funding investigator-initiated health services research examining major changes in health care financing that have implications for public policy. She also provides leadership on AcademyHealth's Public Health Systems Research work. She directed NLM funded projects on Grey Literature and the development of a set of Core Library Recommendations in Health Services Research. Dr. Arnold provided technical direction on a number of other projects as well, including some Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Knowledge Transfer (KT) work on care management and a Commonwealth Fund study on administrative costs. Prior to joining AcademyHealth, she worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she directed Medicare payment demonstrations and the implementation of risk adjustment for health plan payments. Her prior experience includes work at CMS' Office of Legislation and at the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission.

Mary Jo Gibson
Ms. Gibson is a Strategic Policy Advisor in AARP's Public Policy Institute (PPI), where she conducts policy research on long-term care and independent living. She began her work with AARP over 20 years ago in its international activities department, where she published widely on international aging issues. More recently, as PPI Associate Director, she built and managed PPI's health policy research team. Her primary research interests include family caregiving and cross-national perspectives on long-term care. She is the author of numerous publications addressing federal and state policy issues in long-term care and independent living. Recent publications include Valuing the Invaluable: A New Look at the Economic Value of Family Caregiving (2007) ; Comparing Long-Term Care in Germany and the United States: What Can We Learn from Each Other?(2007); and Across the States: Profiles of Long-Term Care (2006 and 2004).

Clari C. Gilbert
Ms. Gilbert is the Executive Vice President Of Beth Abraham Family of Health Services. She has a Bachelor Science Degree in Nursing and a Masters degree in Nursing Administration.  She is also a licensed nursing home administrator. She is the recipient of New York Homes and Services for Aging Professional of the Year award. In 1999, she implemented “Person Centered Care” at the Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, a 320-bed nursing home, which is receiving statewide recognition and attracting many visitors and colleagues.  The other nursing homes in the network, Schnurmacher Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, Beth Abraham Family of Health Services, and Margaret Tietz Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, have all started on the Culture Change journey. She is the co-author of a chapter in the Journal of Social Work in Long-Term Care (2003) titled “Culture Change in an Urban Environment.”  She has also presented at workshops and seminars on topics including: “CNAS: Working in a Culture Change Environment”, “Governance in Culture Change”, and “The Path to Change”. She was selected to the 2008 Baldrige Board of Examiners.

  David C. Grabowski, Ph.D. (Co-chair)
Dr. Grabowski is an associate professor of health economics in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on the economics of aging and health care regulation, with a particular interest in the area of long-term care. Dr. Grabowski recently received a Career Development Award from the National Institute on Aging to study disparities in nursing home care by race and payer status. His research has also been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and other sources. He is a coeditor of the journal Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, and he is a member of the editorial boards of Medical Care Research & Review, The Gerontologist, and B.E. Journals in Economic Analysis & Policy. He is the 2004 recipient of the Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration.

Gail Gibson Hunt
Ms. Hunt is President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), a non-profit coalition dedicated to conducting research and developing national programs for family caregivers and the professionals who serve them. Prior to heading NAC, Ms. Hunt was President of her own aging services consulting firm for 14 years. She conducted corporate eldercare research for the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration, developed training for caregivers with AARP and the American Occupational Therapy Association, and designed a corporate eldercare program for Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) with the Employee Assistance Professional Association.  Prior to having her own firm, she was Senior Manager in charge of human services for the Washington, DC, office of KPMG Peat Marwick. In May of 2004, Ms. Hunt was appointed by the White House to serve on the Policy Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. She continues to serve in this capacity.  She is also very involved in international activities in caregiving.

R. Tamara Konetzka, Ph.D.
Dr. Konetzka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Studies at the University of Chicago.  She completed her Ph.D. in health economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.  Dr. Konetzka conducts research in health economics, aging and long-term care, quality of care, hospital markets, and Medicare and Medicaid policy, focusing on the relationship between economic incentives and quality of care.  Much of her work involves econometric modeling using large panel data sets, including MDS, OSCAR, and HRS.  Recent work, published in leading health services research journals, includes research documenting spillover effects from Medicare policy to quality of care for Medicaid residents of nursing homes; financial incentives for hospitalization from long-term care settings and interventions that can mitigate them; and the relationship between nurse staffing levels and resident outcomes in nursing homes.  Current work includes the impact of public reporting on quality of care, including unintended consequences; the impact of malpractice litigation on nursing home quality of care; and the relationship between health status and purchase/lapse of long-term care insurance.  Dr. Konetzka has been conducting research on long-term care for over a decade.  She is a former director of research for a large nursing home association in Washington D.C., where she conducted impact assessments on regulatory issues affecting institutional long-term care; managed research on the development of quality indicators across long-term care settings; and conducted large, national surveys of the assisted living industry.  Her experience in long-term care research combines rigorous academic training with extensive institutional knowledge of long-term care providers.

Mary Jane Koren, M.D., M.P.H.
Dr. Koren is a senior program officer at The Commonwealth Fund where she is responsible for the Quality of Care for Frail Elders Program and, in addition, manages a grant portfolio of projects within the Quality Improvement Program to improve the coordination of care. Dr. Koren is also an internist and geriatrician. From 1997 to 2002, she was Vice President and Director at the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation where she created and was responsible for their $4 million grants program in the field of health services and aging. Dr. Koren began her career in geriatrics at Montefiore Medical Center where she started the geriatric fellowship program. In 1986 she joined the faculty of the Department of Geriatrics at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and was named Associate Chief of Staff for Extended Care at the Bronx VA Medical Center. In 1987 she became Director, Bureau of Long Term Care Services, for the New York State Department of Health, a position she held for five years following which she was the Principal Clinical Coordinator for the PRO of New Jersey. She has been principal and co-principal investigator on a number of important health services research projects in the field of long term care.

Edward Alan Miller, Ph.D.
Dr. Miller is Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Community Health, and Faculty, Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University. Dr. Miller is a former Fulbright scholar in New Zealand and social policy analyst at the Congressional Research Service trained in health services research at the University of Michigan and Yale University. Professor Miller's specializations include aging and long-term care, program implementation and evaluation, state politics and policy, and intergovernmental relations. He is the author of more than 40 peer-reviewed articles on the determinants and effects of federal and state policies affecting vulnerable populations, including the frail and disabled elderly, mentally ill, veterans, and urban underserved, in addition to the role of telecommunications technology in health care and strategies for reforming the way long-term care is delivered, regulated, and financed. He recently jointed the editorial board of The Gerontologist.

Rhonda Montgomery, Ph.D.
Dr. Montgomery is the Helen Bader Endowed Chair of Applied Gerontology in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare and Professor in the Department of Sociology, at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (UWM). Prior to joining the faculty of UWM, she held positions at the University of Kansas, Wayne State University and University of Washington. Dr. Montgomery has conducted numerous regional and national studies focused on public policy, the role of the family, and the role of staff in providing long term care.  She is currently conducting a large multi-site randomized trial to examine the merits of an assessment and care management protocol for family caregivers. She is a Faculty Scholar with the Center on Age and Community and serves on its Leadership Council and Steering Committee. She is also a mentor for the National Hartford Scholars Program and is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.

Susan C. Reinhard, Ph.D., R.N.
Dr. Reinhard is the Director of the AARP Public Policy Institute, the “think tank” of AARP. The AARP Public Policy Institute is the focal point for public policy research and analysis (federal, state and international) at AARP. Its mission is to inform the development of AARP's public policy positions and to contribute to and influence public debate on issues of importance to midlife and older Americans. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Reinhard served as a Professor and Co-Director of Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. She is a national expert in long-term care, with special expertise in helping people manage their chronic disabilities at home. She began her career as a visiting nurse, which led to her lifelong dedication to supporting individuals and their families. As Deputy Commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Dr. Reinhard worked with three Governors to develop new programs for home care and respite for family caregivers. She has worked with more than 30 states to create and fund similar programs. Her Burden Assessment Scale has been used internationally by other researchers who study the effectiveness of family caregiver programs in reducing their stress. She is committed to teaching nurses and other professionals how to interact with consumers and their families in ways that reinforce what they are doing well on their own and what more they can do to manage their daily challenges. Dr. Reinhard's background includes clinical care, nursing education, research, policy development, and state governmental relations. In previous work, she co-founded the Institute for the Future of Aging Services in Washington, DC and served as its Executive Director of the Center for Medicare Education. She is a former faculty member at the Rutgers College of Nursing and Chair of the Expert Panel on Aging at the American Academy of Nursing.

Laura Trejo
Ms. Trejo is General Manager for the Los Angeles Department of Aging and is responsible for the overall administration of the department; serves as technical and policy advisor to the Mayor and a fifteen member City Council; and represents the City of Los Angeles before the public, community and private groups on matters affecting senior citizen affairs. In her two decades of service to older adults, Ms. Trejo has consulted and trained extensively throughout the United States, has worked with individual countries and international organizations on the development of programs for the elderly with an emphasis on cultural competence, mental health, health, Alzheimer's and rehabilitation. Ms. Trejo's work and commitment to excellence have earned recognition. Among the most notable are the Community Health Leadership Award considered the United States ' highest honor in community health leadership and the United States Library of Congress that recognized her accomplishments as a force for social change. Ms. Trejo is a gerontologist with a Master of Science in Gerontology, Master of Public Administration and Graduate Certificate in Long Term Care Administration. Her work has been published in professional journals and newsletters, book chapters, and major reports.

Rachel M. Werner, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Werner is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Core Investigator with the VA HSR&D Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP). Dr. Werner is a general internist and health economist whose research seeks to understand the role of quality improvement initiatives on provider behavior, the organization of health care, racial disparities, and overall health care quality. Her work has recognized that public reporting of quality information may worsen racial disparities and she has been recognized through numerous awards including the Dissertation Award from AcademyHealth and the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration. Her research has been published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals, including JAMA, Health Services Research, and Circulation. Dr. Werner is a current recipient of a VA Research Career Development Award and PI of an R-01 from the AHRQ examining quality improvement incentives in nursing homes.

John Wren
Mr. Wren is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Management at the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA), where he oversees the agency's budget, strategic planning, grant making, human capital and policy development functions. Prior to joining AoA in 2001, Wren served as: Vice President of the National Council on the Aging; Director of Aging Programs at the Pew Charitable Trusts; and Deputy for Policy and Program Development at the New York State Office for the Aging. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and served on the Board of Directors of the National Senior Citizens Law Center. He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration and received advanced training in executive management at Harvard University 's Kennedy School of Government.