Jessica Katz

Jessica Katz has enjoyed working with, and advocating for, the older adult population since high school. She graduated Penn State University in 2009 with a BA of Psychology and two minors, in Gerontology and Human Development and Family Studies, and from the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work in May 2012 with her Masters. During her final year at UNC she was a Hartford scholar and participated in field rotations at the Duke Memory Disorders Clinic, UNC Hospice and the Duke Family Support Program. She is currently working, and absolutely loving her job, as the Center Coordinator and Clinical Social Worker of the UNC Movement Disorders Center, a National Parkinson Foundation Center of Excellence, where she meets the psychosocial needs of the clinic’s patients, coordinates a bi-monthly Interdisciplinary Parkinson’s Clinic, facilitates a monthly support group, organizes educational programs, and is the Chair of North Carolina’s very first Moving Day for Parkinson’s.

Kevin McKenzie

Kevin is a student at University at Buffalo School of Social Work, who will graduate with his MSW this spring.  Throughout his studies, Kevin has interned as a student therapist with Catholic Charities of Buffalo's mental health initiative and with Hospice Buffalo as a medical social work intern.  While at UB, Kevin also served as a student senator for the School of Social Work in the Graduate Student Association.  Prior to beginning his graduate studies, Kevin was employed by Erie County Senior Services, the Area Agency of Aging in Buffalo, as a case manager.  Kevin works as a volunteer group leader for the Living Healthy Program (formerly known as the Chronic Disease Self Management Program) where he helps to empower older adults to live healthy and independent lives.  Kevin is also a member of the NASW.

Tova Messer

Erin Micklewaite

Lindsay Prizer

Lindsay Prizer, MSW, LCSW is currently a doctoral student in Health Promotion and Behavior at the University of Georgia, where her research focuses on aging and end of life decision-making. Prior to going back to school, she worked as the Clinical Social Worker and Center Coordinator for the UNC Movement Disorders Center, where she primarily worked with older adults diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. In this position she also served as a field rotation supervisor for a Hartford scholar, and she worked with the UNC Social Work program to promote aging work to incoming students. She earned her BSW at Georgia State University in 2008, and she graduated with an MSW from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010. During her time at UNC, she was a Harftord scholar, and she interned at Duke's Memory Disorders Clinic and their Geriatric Evaluation and Treatment Clinic as well as at the Shep Center for Health Sciences Research.

Laura Sutherland

Cindy Waldo

Cindy Waldo is the Director of Congregational Care at Covenant Presbyterian Church, in Omaha, NE.   She is also a leader on the Stephen Ministry leadership team. Cindy graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a Masters Degree in Social Work and a Masters Degree in Gerontology, both with honors. Cindy provides social work, therapy, and pastoral care to all ages of Covenant members with respect and dignity for each person. She is a lifeline to the church for older adult members who are homebound, in a care facility, rehabilitative center or a retirement home. Cindy visits the hospitalized. She has professional and personal experience working with the dying and learning from them what life and death are all about. Cindy is networked within the community and can provide mental health therapy and assistance with social service needs. She is a native of Council Bluffs, Iowa but lived in the Pacific Northwest for 21 years with her husband. When Cindy’s husband died from cancer she had to look inside herself and beyond to find ways to survive the unspeakable loss. Cindy found herself a widow at age 45 and matriarch of her family when her surviving parent passed away five months later. Cindy relied on her faith and let God guide her through her pain. Later, God led her to this career where she can give back the love, kindness, and support she and her husband received. Cindy is a member of the North American Association of Christian Social Workers and the National Associate of Social Workers.

Paige Walker

Paige Walker, MSW, is excited to be apart of of CLIA. Paige earned her BA from Bryn Mawr College and MSW with a concentration in Geriatric Social Work from Binghamton University. As a 2010-2011 HPPAE Fellow, she interned at the Rural Health Network of South Central New York where she provided older adults with multiple chronic illnesses with individual, group, and psycho-educational support. As a High School Social Work Intern, Paige worked with grandparent-headed and intergenerational families. Her primary interest is in aging and related issues within the LGBT population. Paige received the 2012 Student of the Year Award from NASW New York State Chapter. She currently works as the LGBT Program Coordinator at the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

Kelsey Walter

Kelsey Walter is a Policy Associate for the National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities (NASUAD), in Washington, DC. Her primary responsibilities include providing technical assistance to the state directors of aging and disability agencies and advocating at the federal level for aging and disability programming.  Before joining NASUAD she worked as an intern at the National Health Policy Forum through the National Academy of Social Insurance’s Somers Internship Program in Long Term Care.  In 2009, she received her Master of Social Work with a focus on program development, policy, and administration, from Augsburg College where she was the recipient of a Hartford Scholarship for Aging Education.  While working on her MSW, she interned at the ElderCare Rights Alliance, where she advocated for seniors at the Minnesota State Legislature and worked on her thesis project in an assisted living setting.  During her undergraduate career, Kelsey managed a group home for individuals with developmental disabilities for over two years.  She holds a BA in English from South Dakota State University.