Gero-Ed Track Kick-Off Panel

David Lindeman

David Lindeman has worked in the field of aging and long-term care for 30 years as a health services researcher and administrator. In addition to directing the Center for Technology and Aging, he serves as co-director of the Center for Innovation and Technology in Public Health, which advances the use of technology to support population health. Prior to joining the Center for Technology and Aging, he was the founder and director of the Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging in Evanston, IL where he was responsible for developing and implementing evidence-based applied research programs, demonstration projects, education programs, and dissemination initiatives. Previously, he held positions as associate professor of Health Policy at the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, Rush University Medical Center and co-director of the University of California, Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Lindeman has been a principal or co-principal investigator on numerous federal, state, and foundation-supported studies. He also has been director and co-director of coordinating centers, including those for the National Institute on Aging, California Department of Health Services, and the Brookdale Foundation, and has served on numerous advisory boards and task forces. Lindeman received his PhD and MSW in social welfare, health services research, and gerontology from the University of California, Berkeley and his BA from Binghamton University, State University of New York. 

Debra Parker Oliver

Debra Parker Oliver is a professor in the School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Missouri. She has a master’s of social work degree and PhD in Rural Sociology from the University of Missouri. Prior to getting her doctorate she was the founder of Hands of Hope Hospice in St. Joseph, MO as well as served as a director at two additional hospices years for more than 20 years.  Oliver is a former president of the Missouri Hospice and Palliative Care Association and a founding member and former chair of the Missouri End-of-Life Coalition. After getting her doctorate she continued her commitment to the improvement of hospice care through research. She has more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and several book chapters related to end-of-life and hospice care. She is currently the principle investigator of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded Assessing Caregivers for Team Intervention via Video Encounters intervention study, seeking to empower hospice caregivers as they participate in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings through Web conferencing. She is also the co-investigator on a second NIH-funded intervention study using technology to teach hospice caregivers to use problem solving strategies to cope with caregiving concerns.