Partha Bhattacharyya, PhD

Program Director

National Institutes of Health

National Institute on Aging

Dr. Partha Bhattacharyya is the director of the Office of Research Resources (ORR) and a program director in Population and Social Processes (PSP) Branch of the Division of Behavioral and Social Research (DBSR) at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). As the director for ORR, Dr. Bhattacharyya coordinates, directs, and implements initiatives related to research data and resources supported by the DBSR and the NIA. He is a project scientist for Understanding America Study, the largest internet panel survey jointly supported by NIA and the Social Security Administration. Additionally, he supports the NIA mission in advising leadership on new developments in data collection, analysis, and data sharing.

Lisa Onken, PhD

Program Director

National Institutes of Health

National Institute on Aging

Dr. Lisa Onken directs the Behavior Change and Intervention program in the Division of Behavioral and Social Research (DBSR). She joined National Institute on Aging (NIA) in January of 2015 after serving as chief of the Behavioral and Integrative Treatment Branch and associate director for treatment at the National Institute on Drug Abuse within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Onken is a Project Scientist on the NIA AD/ADRD Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory and has played an active role in the NIH Science of Behavior Change Common Fund effort since its inception. She leads the Roybal Translational Centers program, structured within the conceptual framework of the NIH Stage Model—a comprehensive translational conceptual framework for principle-driven behavioral intervention development. 

Margie E. Lachman, PhD, MS

Principal Investigator

Boston Roybal Center for Active Lifestyle Interventions (RALI)

Brandeis University

Dr. Margie Lachman’s research is in the area of lifespan development with a focus on midlife and later life. Her current work is aimed at identifying psychosocial (e.g., sense of control, social support) and behavioral (e.g., physical exercise) factors that can protect against, minimize, or compensate for declines in cognition (e.g., memory) and health. She is conducting studies to examine long-term predictors of psychological and physical health, laboratory-based experiments to identify psychological and physiological processes involved in aging-related changes, and intervention studies to enhance performance and promote adaptive functioning.

Kevin G. Volpp, PhD, MD

Principal Investigator

Penn Roybal Center on Behavioral Economics and Health

University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Kevin Volpp’s work focuses on developing and testing innovative ways of applying insights from behavioral economics in improving patient health behavior and provider performance to improve value in healthcare delivery. He leads the University of Pennsylvania Leonard Davis Institute’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, one of two National Institutes of Health (NIH) Centers on behavioral economics and health in the United States, and (with Karen Glanz, PhD, MPH) the University of Pennsylvania Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Prevention Research Center. He is also the vice chair for health policy in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine.

Manney Carrington Reid, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

Cornell Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life

Cornell University

Dr. Manney Carrington Reid's research is directed towards improving the management of pain among older persons. Current projects include testing non-pharmacologic strategies for pain among older persons in both clinical and non-clinical settings, identifying barriers to the use of self-management strategies for pain, and examining optimal strategies for managing pain across ethnically diverse populations of older persons. Additional areas of interest include the epidemiology and treatment of substance use disorders in older persons.

Karl A. Pillemer, PhD, MA

Principal Investigator

Cornell Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life

Cornell University

Dr. Karl Pillemer is a professor in the Department of Human Development, professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and senior associate dean for research and outreach in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. Dr. Pillemer also directs the Cornell Legacy Project and is author of 30 Lessons for Living. His major interests center on human development over the life course with a special emphasis on family and social relationships in middle age and beyond. He has a strong theoretical and empirical interest in life-course transitions and the corresponding effects on family relationships.

Elaine Wethington, PhD, MA

Principal Investigator

Cornell Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life

Cornell University

Dr. Elaine Wethington is professor emeritus of human development at Cornell University. She is also adjunct research professor in the Survey Research Center at the University of Michigan. Since 2003, she has been co-director and director of the Pilot Study Core for the Cornell Edward R. Roybal Center for the Translation of the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging, the Translational Research Institute on Pain in Later Life. Her current research focuses on (1) development of efficient measures of toxic stress in families and relationship transitions and (2) exposure to major and minor stressors that can be used in longitudinal studies of the population in surveys, in randomized controlled trials with frequent follow-up, and on smartphones.

Joseph J. Doyle Jr., PhD

Principal Investigator

Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Dr. Joseph Doyle is a health economist working on measuring returns to health care (i.e., the relationship between healthcare spending and health outcomes, such as mortality and hospital admissions) with the goal of identifying value and waste in the $3 trillion United States healthcare system. Doyle’s work considers spending at the regional level, at the hospital level, and within the hospital by specialists versus general practitioners and for particular procedures and diagnoses. Much of his research discovers settings where differences in treatment are effectively random so as to circumvent confounding factors.

David I. Laibson, PhD, MSc

Principal Investigator

Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health

National Bureau of Economic Research 

Dr. David Laibson leads Harvard University’s Foundations of Human Behavior Initiative. Laibsonʼs research focuses on the topic of behavioral economics with emphasis on intertemporal choice, self-regulation, behavior change, household finance, public finance, macroeconomics, asset pricing, aging, and biosocial science. He is a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), where he directs the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health and Savings, and he is a research associate in the Aging, Asset Pricing, and Economic Fluctuations Working Groups. Laibson serves on Harvardʼs Pension Investment Committee; the board of the Russell Sage Foundation; the Social Science Genetics Association Consortium advisory board; and the Consumer Finance Institute of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia advisory board.

Susan L. Hughes, PhD

Principal Investigator

Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Translation

University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Susan Hughes, a gerontologist and health policy analyst, has conducted numerous studies in the field of aging for more than 20 years with support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases (NIAMS), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and numerous private foundations. She has considerable experience conducting multi-site randomized trials. Dr. Hughes conducted the national evaluation of the 20-site Living at Home Program that was funded by the Commonwealth Fund and Pew Charitable Trusts and conducted a cooperative study of the effectiveness of team-managed, home-based primary care at 16 Veterans Affairs hospitals across the country.

Niteesh K. Choudhry, MD, PhD

Principal Investigator

The Roybal Center for Therapeutic Optimization Using Behavioral Science

Brigham and Women’s Hospital 

Dr. Niteesh Choudhry is an internist and health services researcher whose work focuses on the development and evaluation of novel strategies to improve health-care quality and reduce spending. He is professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, the founding executive director of the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences, and an associate physician and practicing hospitalist in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He is also professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of implementation research and education at Harvard Catalyst.

Janet Alexandria Prvu Bettger, DSc

Principal Investigator 

Duke Roybal Center

Duke University

Dr. Janet Bettger’s research is dedicated to establishing real-world evidence aimed to improve health-care quality and policies that reduce the burden of disease and disability. As a health services researcher and implementation scientist, she conducts research that extends from observational studies to randomized and pragmatic trials. Dr. Bettger is currently principal investigator for the VERITAS implementation-effectiveness RCT of a physical-therapist-supported virtual care management strategy for exercise at home following total knee replacement. She has also examined implementation of several integrated care models to improve the transition home from the hospital. In addition, Dr. Bettger studies implementation of community-based models of care that can prevent functional decline.

Francis Keefe, PhD, MS

Principal Investigator 

Duke Roybal Center

Duke University

Dr. Francis Keefe is a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology and Neuroscience, Anesthesiology, and Medicine at Duke University. Dr. Keefe is a pain researcher whose work focuses on understanding psychosocial aspects of chronic pain and developing and testing treatment protocols, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness meditation, partner-assisted pain-coping skills training, tai chi, and yoga. He is also the editor in chief of PAIN. 

Dana P. Goldman, PhD

Principal Investigator

Roybal Center for Behavioral Interventions in Aging

University of Southern California

Dr. Dana Goldman is the Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair and a distinguished professor of public policy, pharmacy, and economics at the University of Southern California. He also directs the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, a research hub for one of the nation’s premier health policy and management programs in the Sol Price School of Public Policy and USC School of Pharmacy. Dr. Goldman is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is the author of more than 300 articles and book chapters, and his research has been published in leading medical, economic, health policy, and statistics journals.

Jason N. Doctor, PhD

Principal Investigator

Roybal Center for Behavioral Interventions in Aging

University of Southern California

Dr. Jason Doctor is associate professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. He is also the director of Health Informatics at the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. His research program centers on decision-making in healthcare and health informatics. Dr. Doctor specializes in behavioral economics and the use of choice architecture to affect policy in health and medicine. In other research, he has studied computational approaches to detecting medical errors and has established methods for representing preferences and values for health.

Ian Matthew Kronish, MD, MPH

Principal Investigator

Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change

Columbia University Health Sciences

Dr. Ian Kronish is a board-certified general internist and associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology and Division of General Medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. He co-directs the ColumbiaDoctors Hypertension Center (a multidisciplinary center of excellence that provides high-quality care and state-of-the-art diagnostic testing for hypertension) and directs a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring service called ActiveBP. Dr. Kronish’s clinical interests include the accurate diagnosis and treatment of hypertension as well as the management of psychological consequences of chronic disease.

Donald Edmondson, PhD

Principal Investigator

Columbia Roybal Center for Fearless Behavior Change

Columbia University Health Sciences

Dr. Donald Edmondson is the director of the Center for Behavioral Cardiovascular Health at Columbia University. His research focuses on the potential for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to cardiovascular disease events as well as the behavioral and physiological mechanisms of the link between PTSD and cardiovascular outcomes. He also studies the impact of the hospitalization experience on patient stress, sleep, physical conditioning, and nutrition.

Scott D. Halpern, PhD, MD

Principal Investigator

Transforming Residential Palliative Care for Persons with Dementia through Behavioral Economics and Data Science

University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Scott Halpern is a practicing critical care doctor and professor of medicine, epidemiology, and medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the founding director of the Palliative and Advanced Illness Research (PAIR) Center, which generates evidence to advance policies and practices that improve the lives of all people affected by serious illness. Dr. Halpern is an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and he serves on the editorial boards of the Annals of Internal Medicine and the American Journal of Bioethics. Dr. Halpern has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and his work has been featured in every major media outlet.

Ken W. Hepburn, PhD

Principal Investigator

Roybal Translational Research Center to Promote Context-Specific Caregiving of Community-Dwelling Persons Living with Alzheimer's Disease or Related Disorders

Emory University

Dr. Ken Hepburn is a gerontologist serving as a professor in the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory University. His area of special interest for the past thirty years has been the development and testing of materials and programs designed to help persons caring for family members with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Molly M. Perkins, PhD

Principal Investigator

Roybal Translational Research Center to Promote Context-Specific Caregiving of Community-Dwelling Persons Living with Alzheimer's Disease or Related Disorders

 Emory University

Dr. Molly Perkins is a gerontologist and medical sociologist with research interests in social determinants of health and disparities, aging in minority and vulnerable populations, functional wellness, and long-term care. She is a National Center on Minority Health Disparities (NIH/NCMHD) Scholar whose primary focus is addressing housing and care needs of disadvantaged elderly populations. She is funded by the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) for two projects aimed at identifying modifiable social determinants at multiple social-ecological levels associated with health risk behavior and HIV disease severity in HIV-infected older adults. Other research as co-investigator includes funding from NIH/NIA, the Patient-Centered Research Outcome Research Institute (PCORI), the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Office of Rural Health (ORH), and the John A. Hartford Foundation.

Jeffrey A. Kaye, MD

Principal Investigator

Oregon Roybal Center for Care Support Translational Research Advantaged by Integrating Technology

Oregon Health & Science University

Dr. Jeffrey Kaye is the Layton professor of neurology and biomedical engineering, director of the Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and director of the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology at Oregon Health & Science University. Dr. Kaye completed fellowships in Movement Disorders at Boston University and in brain aging at the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

Kathi L. Heffner, PhD, MD

Principal Investigator

Rochester Roybal Center for Social Ties and Aging Research

University of Rochester

Dr. Kathi Heffner is an associate professor of nursing, medicine, and psychiatry and the associate chief of research in the Division of Geriatrics and Aging in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester. Her multidisciplinary and interprofessional collaborations and mentorship are aimed at supporting research initiatives that ultimately foster individuals' health and well-being in later life. Dr. Heffner's is currently the principal investigator and program director for the Healthy Aging Research Program, supported by the University of Rochester Clinical Translational Science Institute, School of Nursing, and Department of Psychiatry.

Kimberly A. Van Orden, PhD

Principal Investigator

Rochester Roybal Center for Social Ties and Aging Research

University of Rochester

Dr. Kimberly Van Orden is a clinical psychologist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. Her research (funded by the National Institutes of Health [NIH] and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]) and clinical interests lie in the promotion of social connectedness to prevent late-life suicide. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed publications, most of which are focused on the role of social connectedness in mental health and suicide risk. Her current and recent projects examine behavioral interventions to reduce suicide risk in older adults via the mechanism of increasing social connectedness. These interventions include psychotherapy, peer companionship, and computer-based social skills training; an upcoming study will test volunteering as a means of reducing loneliness.