Students

Katherine Im
Track:Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: English and Psychobiology, Wellesley College
Computer Studies, UMUC
MA: Clinical/Community Psych, University of Maryland College Park

Kathy has over 20 years experience in the field of mental health, both as a clinician and a researcher. She served as a neuropsychological coordinator at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center overseeing the cognitive testing for clinical trials and neuropsychological protocols with schizophrenic patients. In the past decade, she has served as the program chair for social sciences and gerontology at the University of Maryland University College. She is interested in the impact of ageism on well-being and on the role that technology plays in improving outcomes for older persons. Her dissertation focuses on the experience of social media use in those 65 and older.

Colleen Bennett
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Sociology and International Relations, State University of New York College at Geneseo
MS: Gerontology, Marywood University

Colleen’s interest in aging began at the SUNY College at Geneseo, where she worked with the IOM Political Rights and Enfranchisement System Strengthening Project researching political displacement and older voters’ issues. As a Graduate Assistant at Marywood University, she focused on recreational and alternative therapies and activity departments in long-term care settings; she also worked closely with Marywood’s Gerontology Advisory Board. Her research interests have since expanded to include family LGBT issues and needs, as well as sexuality and aging in assisted living and long-term care settings. Colleen previously worked as a Graduate Assistant with The Erickson School at UMBC with professors and students in the Management of Aging Services undergraduate program, and in the Center for Aging Studies at UMBC with her mentor Dr. Rubinstein.‌‌

Michael Brazda
Track:Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BS: Computer Studies, University of Maryland University College
BA: Anthropology, University of Maryland Baltimore County
MA: Applied Sociology, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Michael has always been interested in social and cultural issues. His interest in aging related issues developed while working on his first graduate degree at UMBC. While all social and cultural aspects of aging are of interest, Michael is hoping to focus more on the areas of the aging self; the interplay of aging, technology, and the information age with aging adults; and aging related issues pertaining to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered community. His dissertation is concerned with the study of the self, situated in the intersection of macro and micro sociological views, providing both a focal point and a driving force for the generation of individual identity and ultimately society.

Shae Allen
Track: Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology, National University
MSW: University of Maryland School of Social Work

Following service in the United States Navy, Shae developed her interest in geriatrics during her social work internship with the VA Maryland Health Care System (VAMHCS) at the Baltimore VA Medical Center.  Shae piloted  VAMHCS’ Emergency Department/Primary Care Transitional Social Worker position, aimed at reducing non-emergent ED use among geriatric populations and their families. Since 2013, she has worked as a geriatric primary care social worker, and now serves as the Ambulatory and Emergency Care Clinical Center Caregiver Support Program Coordinator at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Her current research interests are geriatric managed care settings, increasing older adult  patient satisfaction in outpatient care,  early interventions for chronic disease management in primary care, and implementing patient-centered care in health care settings.  Shae plans to continue working for the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System, and integrate her managed care experience into research enhancing older adult patient care settings.

Heather Mutchie
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Psychology, Univ. of West Florida

Heather earned her BA in Psychology with a minor in Aging Studies and Spanish from the University of West Florida Honors Program in 2013. She was a research assistant at the Claude D. Pepper Center, Institute on Aging at the University of Florida. In that time she gained experience in many separate aspects of research including grant submission, peer revision, participant contact, data entry, form creation, IND application, and manuscript publication. Her research focuses are on mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease, and cognition. She endeavors to bring good scientific progress to the general public and increase understanding among the affected population and their caregivers.

Ruowei Yang
Track: Epidemiology
BS: Biotechnology, Jiangxi Agricultural University
MHS: Johns Hopkins Univ. Bloomberg School of Public Health

Ruowei found her interest in the aging population while studying at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Prior to coming to University of Maryland Baltimore she was working at the Shanghai Mental Health Center-Emory University Collaborative Center for Global Mental Health, where she assisted the coordination and launch of several research projects on community mental health and older adults. At UMB, Ruowei has been working on projects related to medication use in Medicare beneficiaries as a graduate research assistant. For future research, she intends to explore topics such as the life-course antecedents of cognitive decline and metabolism and mental well-being in older adults.

‌Haesung Kim
Track:‌ Epidemiology
BA; Occupational Therapy, Yonsei University
MA: Psycholog‌y, Yonsei University

Haesung studied Occupational Therapy as undergraduate and Psychology as Master's Degree at Yonsei University, South Korea. She researched  cognitive control system at Cognition Lab with supervisor Dr. Min-Shik Kim. Her current research interest is how cognitive aging or impairments affect aging individuals and how to intervene their daily life. She hopes to contribute to improve the quality of life of aging adults.

Shalini Sahoo
Track: Policy
BS: Sociology,Texas Christian University
MA:  Applied Sociology, UMBC

Brought up in New Delhi, India, Shalini first came to United States in 2009 to join Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, TX) on an athletic scholarship.  In 2011 she joined the University of Maryland, Baltimore County for a master’s degree program in Applied Sociology with a focus in health and aging.  Shalini was always interested in doing something to enhance the lives of older adults through sociological research or policy work.  She then joined the M.A. program in Management of Aging Services from the Erickson School.  She grew to understand and analyze the societal implications of an aging population for public policy, the economy, and major social institutions.  Her ultimate career goal is to advocate for older adults by creating policies and programs to fit the diverse needs of this growing population.  Working in the Affordable Housing industry for almost 2 years she has learned a lot about HUD-sponsored senior housing programs, Section 8 Housing and Low Income Housing.  She hopes to expand my knowledge and apply herlearning to other important sectors in aging and policy, including health and long-term care, economic security, work, and retirement.  One particular interest is exploring the intersection between Affordable Housing and integrated Healthcare and developing strategies that improve the health and well-being of elderly residents, while demonstrating cost savings to the healthcare system.  

Jennifer Kirk
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Psychology, University of Central Oklahoma

As an undergraduate, Jennifer Haddock worked on various research projects in the Psychodynamic and Cognitive Psychology Lab at the University of Central Oklahoma that allowed her to present several research posters at the 2017 International Convention of Psychological Sciences in Vienna. However, the two most influential moments of her undergraduate career were spent in the presence of older adults at both the Latino Community Development Center’s program, called La Puerta De Oro, and the Edmond Senior Center as a volunteer technology tutor. Those experiences directly led her to pursue a doctoral degree in Gerontology. At UMB/UMBC, Jennifer Haddock is assisting with the next phase of the Baltimore Hip Fracture Studies. She aims to focus her future research on increasing the long-term effectiveness of behavioral interventions, developing technology to increase motivation in older adults, and translating emergent interventions into Spanish.

Kasey Knopp
Track: Policy
BA: History, College of Wooster
MA: Gerontology, Youngstown State University

Kasey has nearly a decade of experience working with the aging population within the private, non-profit, and government sectors.  She received her MA in Gerontology from Youngstown State University in 2018.  Through her work experience and her research, she developed an interest in addressing health disparities that effect minority populations, as well as an interest in comparative international health care policy

Sandy Lundahl
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: Health Education, State University of New York at Buffalo
MPH: University of Michigan

Sandy Lundahl loves to learn and has graduate degrees in public health and in instruction systems design. She is focusing on the growth and development that occurs in the second half of life. For six years she taught human development classes for the SAGE "seniors" program in Prince George's Community College. In June 2018, Sandy joined the online course development team in the Office of Academic Innovation and Distance Learning at the UMB Graduate School.

Gretchen Tucker
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: English, Gettysburg College
MA: Sociology, UMBC

Gretchen has worked at the Center for Aging Studies at UMBC since 2012. Her current research interest is in person-centered care for persons with dementia living in the community.

Nicole Viviano
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
BA: : Psychology, Westminster College
MA: Gerontology, Youngstown State University

Nicole is a native of Pittsburgh, PA. Her bachelor’s thesis examined facial attractiveness and drug addiction stigma. Most recently, her research from her MA program consisted of social support in older adults, as well as mild cognitive impairment (MCI); successful aging and MCI were the themes of her Master's thesis. For her Master’s internship, she worked at the University of Pittsburgh in the University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR). Nicole is specifically interested in stigma, social support/networks, and the psychosocial aspects of aging.

Lori Anderson
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Business, College of Notre Daem, Maryland
MA: Applied Econoimics, Johsn Hopkins Univeristy
MHS: Mental Health, JOhsn Hopkins Blookberg School of Public Health

Lori's interest in Gerontology started when her grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  Lori saw how caregiving took a financial and emotional toll on the family and became interested in ways to alleviate those burdens. She has used her background in economics to study the role of economic hardship on risk factors for Alzheimer's disease.  Her current research will investigate mechanisms which delay onset and slow progression of Alzheimer's disease through lifestyle interventions such as sleep, diet, and exercise, while also exploring the economic benefits of such interventions.

Anthony Edozian
Track: Epidemiology
BA: History, Yale University
MD: Medicine, Universify of North Carolina 

Anthony has been at UMB in the Division of Infectious Diseases since 2004.  Most of that time he has worked with people living with HIV with a focus on HIV in Africa south of the Sahara.  As people live longer with HIV, the expected happens—they age.  Thus, his interest in understanding how HIV and the drugs we use to treat it affect the aging process in people living longer with the disease and having longer exposure to antiretroviral drugs.  Anthony hopes to concentrate on the process of aging with HIV in Africa.  

Rachel McPherson
Track: Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Sciences
BS: Psychology, Univerity of Central Florida

Rachel earned her BS in Psychology from the University of Central Florida in 2018. During her undergraduate career, Rachel completed an honors thesis and worked as a research assistant in a cognition and aging laboratory. Having the opportunity to work with older adult participants in the research lab shaped her decision to pursue a career in gerontology. Following her graduation, she worked in a memory care unit of an assisted living facility. Through her work and research experience, Rachel has developed an interest in long-term care, caregiving, and the impact of dementia on the individual and family.  

Min Kyoung Park
Track: Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Sciences
BA: Political Science & Mass Communications, Sogang University
MA: Family & Child Studies, Yonsei University

During her time at Yonsei Min Kyoung worked as a research assistant in the Family Studies and Gerontology lab on projects related to family gerontology. Min Kyoung’s research interests focus on family relationship in late life and family caregiving. She aims to contribute to future gerontology literature with primary goals of enhancing the later-life spousal relationship that is associated with the well-being of both these individuals and their families as a whole. Also, she is interested in family caregiving issues, especially spousal caregiving among aging adults. 

Jocelyn Brown
Track: Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Sciences
BA: Psychology, Shepherd University
MA: Applied Psychology, University of Baltimore 

Throughout her schooling, Jocelyn has worked hands on with older adults in different long-term care communities throughout the state of Maryland. In her professional and academic career, she has focused on recreational activities and how leisure and recreation can improve well-being and quality of life in older adulthood. Through her doctoral studies, her research interests have solidified and concern the quality of life and well-being of older people of color. More specifically, how leisure and recreation can be used to improve these outcomes.

Sarah Cassatt 
Track: Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Sciences
BA: Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Pittsburgh
MA: Nutrition, Case Western University

Sarah is a Baltimore native and while pursuing her PhD will continue to work as a clinical dietitian at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Her background is in nutrition and exercise receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh. It was, however, her graduate thesis work at Case Western Reserve University in malnutrition and falls in older adults that developed her passion for gerontology.  Areas of research include enteral nutrition in older adults and nutritional management of diabetes in institutionalized older adults.

Rhea Mehta
Track: Epidemiology
BA: Psychology, California State University, Long Beach
MA: Health Science, Johns Hopkins University

Rhea's interest in aging stems from living with her grandparents from a young age. While pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Psychology, she worked in a neuroscience lab and presented at various conferences where she was exposed to memory and Alzheimer's Disease research. After a family friend was diagnosed with AD and her great-grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, she pursued and earned a Master of Health Science in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her current research interests surround modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline later in life, and intervention development for dementia and AD patients residing in communities and in long-term care settings. 

Donnette Narine
Track: Social, Cultural, Behavioral Sciences
B.A.: Liberal Studies, St. George’s University
M.A.: Clinical-Community Psychology, St. George’s University 

Donnette’s practicum experience for her master’s degree sparked an interest in the older adult population, specifically innovative ways for providing quality care in low-resource settings. She hopes to explore how creativity can be optimized for therapeutic benefits toward the biopsychosocial wellbeing of older adults.