PennAITech at Penn Washington

George Demiris is a PIK (Penn Integrates Knowledge) University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and holds joint faculty appointments in the School of Nursing where he serves as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, and the Informatics Division of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine. He explores innovative ways to utilize technology and support older adults and their families in various settings, including home and hospice care. He is a Member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics, the Gerontological Society of America and the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics. He directs the Penn Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging and is co-director of the Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation.

Pamela Cacchione received her BSN from Villanova University School of Nursing, MSN as a Gerontological Nurse Practitioner from Marymount University School of Nursing, and her PhD
from Saint Louis University School of Nursing. She went on to do a post doctorate at the University of Iowa College of Nursing focused on delirium in sensory impaired rural older adults in long-term care. Dr. Cacchione’s research on sensory impairment in long-term care elders has
led to the dissemination of evidence-based guidelines in the care of older adults in long-term care settings with vision and/or hearing deficits. She has leveraged her expertise in vision and hearing impairment into human factors in developing robotic applications for older adults. She is currently funded through the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. During her Health and Aging Policy Fellowship she worked on the PACE Innovation ACT and the implementation of Community Health Choices a mandatory managed care program for dual
eligibles across Pennsylvania.

Nancy A Hodgson, PhD, RN, FAAN, FGSA, is the Claire M. Fagin Leadership Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Dr. Hodgson has established herself as a leader in dementia family caregiving and biobehavioral intervention research. As Principal Investigator on multiple completed trials, she has rigorously evaluated interventions for persons with dementia and their family caregivers in home and community settings. Her multi-method expertise spans qualitative research, behavioral intervention development (including technology-based solutions), clinical trials, and implementation science. Her research is grounded in the Science of Behavior Change and the NIH stage model, prioritizing the understanding of mechanisms across all stages of dementia. As co-founder of the Palliative Care Program at the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center—one of the nation’s first nursing home-based palliative care programs—Dr. Hodgson has demonstrated her commitment to innovative care models. She has mentored over 25 pre-doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and early-stage faculty on intervention research, sharing her expertise in developing treatment protocols, ensuring treatment fidelity, and coordinating data safety in dementia research. Dr. Hodgson’s work informs dementia care practices through evidence-based protocols addressing symptoms that cause distress or impair quality of life. As both clinician and educator, she develops implementation strategies that foster academic-community partnerships, effectively bridging research and practice to improve dementia care

Lauren Massimo is a graduate of the PhD program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Massimo holds
a bachelor’s degree in Nursing from The Pennsylvania State University and master’s degree as an Adult and Gerontology Nurse Practitioner from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Massimo’s
research focuses on identifying the cognitive and neural basis for decline in neurodegenerative disease. Over her decade-long career as a nurse practitioner in cognitive neurology, she has enjoyed the opportunity to work with and support many patients with neurodegenerative disease and their families. She has received numerous grants and awards including the John A. Hartford Foundation Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity pre-doctoral fellowship and two National Research Service Awards. She is currently funded by the National Institute on Aging
for her work on cognitive reserve in young-onset dementia.

Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton joined the Penn Memory Center in 2012. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology, Chief of the Division of Neuropsychology, and Director of Cognitive Fitness Programs and Neuropsychological Services at the Penn Memory Center. She Co-Leads the Clinical Core in Penn’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and Co-Leads the ADRD Pilot Core for the Penn AI and Technology Collaboratory for Healthy Aging (PennAITech). She is Associate Director and Neuropsychology Track Lead for the Penn Psychology Internship Training Program and supervises pre- and postdoctoral clinical neuropsychology trainees.

Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology with a concentration in neuropsychology from Drexel University. She completed her internship at Brown University and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Mechanic-Hamilton’s research focuses on cognitive assessment and behavioral intervention in AD/ADRD. Her lab is developing and testing a suite of digital cognitive tasks aimed at improving early detection of cognitive decline in those at risk for AD/ADRD.  Her intervention work is multidisciplinary and collaborative and includes developing group based behavioral interventions for individuals living with cognitive impairment and app-based intervention for increasing goal-directed behavior.