The Annual Conference of the American Society on Aging
April 6-15, 2021 | A Virtual Event
Cost: $290 for ASA members
Not a member of ASA? Join and register simultaneously for $540
On Aging 2021 Student Summit
Thursday, April 8 | 10:00 am–1:00 pm PT / 1:00 pm–4:00 pm ET
Presented by 
The Student Summit is created especially for students and recent graduates of all degree types who have an interest in aging. Wayne State University’s Dr. Tam Perry will open the Summit with a keynote address on her ethnographic research, take questions and offer guidance for pursuing work that advances social justice for older people. Next, Ingrid Collins from AARP Florida will share her insights and practical advice for building meaningful networks, and everyone will have a chance to try out her tips in an interactive networking session. Then, Louis Colbert will convene a panel of national and international thought leaders as they talk about their unique career paths and promising opportunities for students interested in aging.
Keynote by Tam Perry, PhD, MSSW
Using Advocacy as a Tool to Advance Social Justice in an Aging Society
Schedule
10:00 am–10:10 am PT | Opening Remarks
Lisa Gables, CPA, Chief Executive Officer of the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) and incoming Chair of ASA’s Board of Directors
Peter Kaldes, Esq., Chief Executive Officer & President of the American Society on Aging
Sarah Swords, LCSW-S, Assistant Dean for Master's Programs, Clinical Associate Professor, and Director of the GRACE (Gerontology Resources and the Aging Community in Education) Program
10:10 am–10:55 am PT | Keynote Address and Q&A
Using Advocacy as a Tool to Advance Social Justice in an Aging Society
Tam Perry, PhD, MSSW, Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University
11:00 am–11:55 am
Stop Networking and Start Connecting – A Conversation and Interactive Event
Ingrid Collins, Associate State Director for Community Engagement for AARP in Central Florida
Leanne Clark-Shirley, PhD, VP of Programs and Thought Leadership, American Society on Aging
12:00 pm–1:00 pm
Celebrating Careers in Aging—Winding Paths to Tech, Policy, Advocacy and Aging Services
Moderator:
Louis Colbert, Senior Vice President of Operations for the Philadelphia Corporation on Aging (PCA).
Panelists:
Keren Etkin, MA, Creator of TheGerontechnologist.com, Next Avenue Influencer in Aging
Jason Resendez, Executive Director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Center for Brain Health Equity and head of the LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s Coalition, Next Avenue Influencer in Aging
Robyn Golden, LCSW, Associate Vice President of Social Work and Community Health and Chair of the Department of Social Work at Rush University Medical Center
Erika L. Moritsugu, JD, Vice President, Economic Justice, National Partnership for Women & Families
Speaker Bios
Tam Perry, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University. Her ethnographic research addresses housing transitions of older adults from a network perspective. As health, mobility and kin and peer networks alter, she explores how older adults contemplate their homes and their home’s contents. She studies housing transitions because, while aging in place is often preferred and cost-effective, inevitably some older adults will undertake the emotional and physical labor, as well as the negotiation of medical, financial and long-term care infrastructures, involved in relocation. Her research has been supported by the National Institute on Aging, the John A. Hartford Foundation, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. She plans to begin a new research project in Detroit on relocation in older adulthood funded by the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research as well as conduct a longitudinal study of older adults who participated in her dissertation project funded by a University Research Grant from Wayne State University.
Sarah Swords, LCSW-S, is a clinical associate professor and assistant dean for Master’s Programs at the University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She is co-chair of the Steve Hicks School’s re-affirmation of accreditation effort with the Council on Social Work Education and represents the MSSW program on committees at the school and university level. Swords also directs the GRACE (Gerontology Resources and the Aging Community in Education) Program, a field education initiative that addresses the workforce shortage in social work and aging. Under Dean Swords’ leadership, the program has garnered national recognition for its creative and effective initiatives that pave the way for students’ future practice with older adults.
Ingrid Collins is the Associate State Director of Community Engagement for AARP Florida. She provides leadership in the Greater Orlando area to deliver valuable programs and activities in collaboration with volunteers and community partners. Collins is an experienced association and business professional skilled at marketing, product/program development, and relationship management. She has has more than 20 years’ experience collaborating with CEOs and all levels of leadership to support constituents, customers and members. A natural storyteller whose motto is that everyone deserves respect, she strives to have meaningful communication, build consensus and help others see what they have in common. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration on Social Sciences from the University of Central Florida.
Louis Colbert is this year’s ASA Award winner. He has spent four decades as a leader and mentor in the aging network, and serves as senior vice president of Operations for the Philadelphia Corporation on Aging (PCA). Prior to that, Colbert was director of the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging. At PCA, which is the fourth largest Area Agency on Aging in the nation, he administers more than 70 percent of the agency’s workforce and budget and is lauded for his record in change management, process improvement, consumer and provider relations and fiscal and program compliance. At Delaware County he oversaw multimillion dollar budgets allocated from federal and state offices. At ASA we treasure him for his infectious warmth and humor and for the influence he has brought from his long-term role as a co-caregiver (with his siblings) for his mother. Colbert has worked diligently to bring attention to the efforts of male caregivers and also has facilitated an Alzheimer’s caregiver support group at his church for more than 15 years. He has served in several volunteer positions, including a term as Chair of the ASA Board of Directors.
Keren Etkin, MA, is the Creator of TheGerontechnologist.com, a website that covers the global age tech ecosystem. In 2019, she was named an Influencer in Aging by Next Avenue. Etkin is a public speaker and an advisor for age tech startups, investors in the longevity economy, care providers and organizations that work on innovation in aging. She was the first employee at Intuition Robotics, the startup behind ElliQ, the world’s first social robot designed with and for older adults, and co-founder and vice president of Product at Sensi.Ai, a startup that developed the first and only audio-AI solution for remote care monitoring. She holds an M.A. in Gerontology B.Sc. in Life Sciences.
Jason Resendez is the Executive Director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Center for Brain Health Equity and head of the LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s Coalition. From clinical trial inclusion to paid family leave for family caregivers, he champions brain health equity at every level of the healthcare system. In 2020, Resendez was recognized as one of America’s Influencers in Aging by Next Avenue. Resendez established UsAgainstAlzheimer’s as a hub for building equity through community-anchored research collaborations and data innovation. He spearheads peer-learning and direct engagement with community-based organizations, public health stakeholders and research centers across the country to advance health equity initiatives that shape and influence national thinking and action on brain health. He has contributed to peer-reviewed research on the socioeconomic impacts of brain health inequities and on the science of community engagement in neuroscience research, and has been quoted by The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, STAT News, Time, Newsweek, Univision and others on health equity issues.
Robyn Golden, MA, is associate vice president of Social Work and Community Health, chair of the Department of Social Work at Rush University Medical Center, and co-director of Rush’s Center for Excellence in Aging and the Center for Health and Social Care Integration. She is the principal investigator for Rush’s Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) and co-directs the Rush Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Disparities in Aging. She is a past chair of the American Society on Aging. In 2017, she received the Gerontological Society of America's Maxwell A. Pollack Award for Productive Aging, and she recently served as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee studying the integration of social needs care into the delivery of healthcare. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and is a National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Social Work Pioneer. Ms. Golden holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and Bachelor’s degree from Miami University.
Erika L. Moritsugu, JD, is a vice president at the National Partnership for Women & Families, where she leads the Economic Justice team, which is committed to advancing public policies to achieve economic stability and security, particularly for women of color and other marginalized communities that are often excluded from the institution of work. She was recently appointed vice president of a newly formed Congressional Relations team to provide an enterprise-wide advocacy strategy across all of the Partnership’s program areas, which encompasses work and family supportive measures, gender and race equity and health justice. Prior to her work at the National Partnership, Erika led the Government Relations, Advocacy and Community Engagement team at the Anti-Defamation League. She has had a distinguished career in politics and the federal government, with service to three Senators and in several roles at the Democratic Policy Committee. In 2014, she was confirmed by the Senate to serve as an Assistant Secretary at Housing and Urban Development in the Obama Administration, and had previously directed Senate legislative affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She attended Brandeis University, the College of William and Mary, and George Washington Law School.
