Our Team
Patricia J. Volland, MSW, MBA
Director
Contact Information: pvolland@nyam.org; (212) 822-7207
Emma Barker, MSW, MFA
Associate Program Officer
Contact Information: ebarker@nyam.org; (212) 419-3591
Michael Ginsburg, MSW
Program Manager
Contact Information: mginsburg@nyam.org; (212) 822-7325
Kadia Darby, BS
Administrative Assistant
Contact Information: kdarby@nyam.org; (212) 822-7322
Patricia J. Volland, MSW, MBA
Director, Social Work Leadership Institute
Ms. Patricia J. Volland is the Director of the Social Work Leadership Institute. The Social Work Leadership Institute (SWLI) is a national initiative working to ensure that America’s older adults receive the care they need to remain in charge of their lives and live life to the fullest. Ms Volland is leading national education, policy and research efforts to advance our society's ability to support and care for older adults in a productive and coordinated manner. These efforts include educational initiatives to create social work leaders to work with older adults, and developing and implementing policies that benefit people in the third stage of their lives, 60+. She is focusing much of her work on developing effective comprehensive care coordination services - linking health/medicine with psychosocial/long term care - that are so important for older adults with chronic diseases.
Ms. Volland launched the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education in 2000. This education model has been adopted by 75 graduate schools of social work in 35 states. The model is field based and increases student’s competencies in working with older adults. This educational model has been so successful in training future social work leaders to work with older adults, that it is currently spreading to all graduate schools of social work with leadership provided by Ms. Volland and her staff.
In 2008, in partnership with the American Society on Aging, she formed the National Coalition on Care Coordination (N3C). The purpose of N3C is to build consensus among stakeholder organizations and to advocate for enactment of public policies that support care coordination effectively linking health/medicine and psychosocial and long-term care on behalf of vulnerable populations, with particular focus on older adults. The member organizations of the coalition include experts in aging, medicine and health, nursing, social services, long-term care, community-based services, family caregivers and older adults. The result of these efforts has included incorporation of care coordination extensively in the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.
Ms. Volland serves on the boards of The American Society on Aging; the Altman Foundation, a New York City-based institution that lends support to programs that serve community populations, in particular the vulnerable and the disadvantaged; and Planned Parenthood of New York City. She is the former Chairman of the Board of Planned Parenthood of New York City, where she placed a special emphasis on effective advocacy to ensure access to health and reproductive services for women who wish to make responsible and independent decisions about their lives.
Prior to joining The New York Academy of Medicine, Ms. Volland spent 25 years as a hospital administrator. She has held administrative and clinical social work positions at several academic medical centers, including fifteen years at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She has served as National President and Board Member of the Society for Social Work Administrators in Health Care.
Ms. Volland is a recipient of numerous awards, which include the Distinguished Alumni award of the School of Social Work, San Diego University, 1977; the Ida M. Cannon Award for Distinguished Leadership, Society of Social Work Administrators in Health Care, 1983; President's Award, Women in Health Management, 2005; and Lifetime Achievement Award, National Association of Social Work, New York City Chapter, 2010.
She is a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine, and has edited and published in numerous scholarly journals and books. She is expert in issues of aging, workforce development and ageing, social work, and women's health issues. She has an MBA from Loyola College, MSW from San Diego State University and a BA in Sociology from Ottawa University.
Emma Barker, MSW, MFA
Associate Program Officer, Social Work Leadership Institute
Emma Barker is the Associate Program Officer at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute where she supports the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education and other projects to strengthen the social work workforce in the field of aging.
Prior to joining SWLI Ms. Barker worked for the last 14 years as a community organizer, teacher, trainer, and outreach coordinator for a variety of New York-based community groups. Additionally, she also worked in a New York City Council office where she performed constituent services, with an emphasis on the older adult population.
Ms. Barker earned her Masters of Social Work from Hunter College and her Masters in Fine Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University, England, where she originally hails.
Michael Ginsburg, MSW
Program Manager, Social Work Leadership Institute
Michael Ginsburg is the Program Manager at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute where he administers ongoing logistical support for coordinating day-to-day activities in addition to staffing efforts for the National Coalition on Care Coordination (N3C), both providing direction for production of policy and program related projects, and ensuring timely delivery of SWLI final products.
Mr. Ginsburg began his work at SWLI as the second year field assignment toward the completion of his Masters of Social Work degree at Hunter College, which he was awarded on June 3, 2010. As an intern, Mr. Ginsburg successfully submitted an abstract based on the SWLI-authored paper, Toward the Development of Care Coordination Standards, to the State Society on Aging (SSA) of New York which culminated in a presentation he gave on Financing Care Coordination at their 37th Annual Conference in October, 2009. He also completed a major research paper on using Medicaid to fund geriatric social work education.
Mr. Ginsburg's previous experience as Director of Residence Life at his alma mater, Bard College, where he was head administrator of all residential services and operations consisting of 50 variously themed co-ed dormitories housing more than 1,300 students, informed his decision to focus on organizational management and leadership in his graduate work.
Kadia Darby, BS
Administrative Assistant
Kadia Darby is the Administrative Assistant for The New York Academy of Medicine’s Social Work Leadership Institute. She coordinates department meetings and conferences and assists in the production of department projects. She holds a Bachelor of Science in community health from Hunter College.
