National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment 2024–2025 Mentorship Program Cohort
About the Program
As the nation’s health system expands its focus on and commitment to improving care for the growing population of older adults, the National Collaboratory to Address Elder Mistreatment (NCAEM) recognizes that improving elder mistreatment identification, intervention, and prevention requires supporting people with a broad range of interests and careers. We are pleased to support this talent pipeline with the annual NCAEM Mentorship Program. Please feel free to contact us (ncaem@edc.org) with questions, scroll down to meet the 2024–2025 NCAEM Mentorship Program Cohort, and meet our prior cohorts from 2023–2024 and 2022–2023.
Meet the 2024–2025 NCAEM Mentorship Program Cohort
We are excited to welcome the new cohort of the NCAEM Mentorship Program. This year’s cohort is composed of professionals from a diverse array of clinical, practitioner, and research backgrounds who are dedicated to addressing elder mistreatment through their work.
Kidest Babi is a distinguished nursing professional with over 20 years of experience at Los Angeles General Medical Center, where she serves as the sole nurse practitioner in geriatrics. Holding a Doctorate in Nursing, Dr. Babi is deeply committed to patient advocacy, focusing on elder abuse cases. She works collaboratively with interdisciplinary teams, including legal professionals and psychologists, to ensure that patients’ rights are upheld, and their voices are heard. A recognized leader in the health care field, Dr. Babi currently chairs the Shared Governance Advanced Practice Providers at LA General Medical Center, where she plays a pivotal role in influencing policy and promoting the hospital’s magnet designation. She also actively contributes to the institution’s cultural development as a member of the hospital’s Culture Club, which focuses on enhancing organizational culture. Dr. Babi is a passionate educator and mentor. She volunteers as an assistant nursing professor at UCLA and frequently lectures on elder abuse issues and concerns to medical residents, nurses, and social workers. Her dedication to advancing the nursing profession, fostering professional growth, and improving patient care exemplifies her commitment to lifelong learning and excellence in practice. Through her leadership, collaborative approach, and unwavering commitment to education and patient care, Dr. Babi continues to be an invaluable asset to the health care community.
Marykate Byrnes, LCSW, CCM, HEC-C, is a social worker at the Veterans Health Administration with over 10 years of experience in geriatrics. Throughout her career, she has worked across various settings, primarily within contract nursing homes and home-based primary care, and she currently serves as the Medical Foster Home program coordinator in Albany, New York. Ms. Byrnes is an active member of the National Social Work Elder Justice Implementation Team and holds certification as a Health Care Ethics Consultant. She has developed a passion for aging in place for veterans, ensuring they maintain independence and quality of life as they age. Ms. Byrnes is driven by the belief that every individual deserves to age with dignity in the comfort and familiarity of their chosen surroundings. Her work is motivated by the desire to ensure that veterans—who have given so much for their country—are able to live their later years with respect, security, comfort, and a strong sense of community.
Jennifer T. Jones-Minnifield is a dedicated licensed clinical social worker and board-approved supervisor with 19 years of professional experience in medical social work, community health, behavioral and mental health care, and veterans’ services. Licensed in both Alabama and Mississippi, she serves as a board member for two nonprofit organizations: Wholistic Wellness Community and Hope In Her. Ms. Jones-Minnifield earned her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Alabama in 2006 and is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Work at Sacred Heart University. At Sacred Heart, she contributes as a teaching and graduate assistant in the School of Social Work. Ms. Jones-Minnifield’s passion for helping others is further exemplified by her work with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where she serves vulnerable veterans through the Home-Based Primary Care Program. In addition to her role at the VA, she operates a small mental health private practice in Alabama, offering counseling services to individuals in need. Ms. Jones-Minnifield has been a sought-after speaker, presenting at numerous events focused on women’s health and mental health care. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the National Association of Black Social Workers, reflecting her commitment to community, advocacy, and the advancement of social work.
Chrisy Khatib is the deputy director for Adult Protective Services (APS) for the State of Kansas. She leads the statewide Department for Children and Families’ APS team, comprised of 96 staff investigating allegations of abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of vulnerable adults. The role of APS is to advocate for vulnerable adults and support them in the least restrictive setting. She led the revision of the 2021 APS statutes and testified on behalf of HB 2151, creating Kansas elder and dependent adult abuse multidisciplinary teams and a coordinator. Ms. Khatib has been a licensed social worker and addiction counselor for 25 years. She was a Kansas Legislature Senior Care Taskforce member in 2023 and currently serves on the Kansas Attorney General’s Elder and Dependent Adult Council. In 2023, she obtained her Gallup Strengths Coach certification and used her strengths to support new initiatives within Kansas APS.
Catheryn Koss is an associate professor in the Gerontology Department at Sacramento State University where she teaches courses on aging policy and research methods. Her research interests include elder abuse, advance care planning, and diminished capacity. She is also a member of the Gerontological Society of America and a former Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging Fellow. Dr. Koss holds an Anthropology BA from Smith College, a Law Degree from Oklahoma City University, and a Gerontology PhD from the University of Kansas.
Traci Lee has worked in the human service field for 30 plus years. She started her career in housing, youth treatment, and working with people with disabilities, and for the last several years, she has worked for both county and state aging services. In working for Salt Lake County, Ms. Lee oversaw a network of 16 senior centers and led the centers to national accreditation. She currently works for the State of Utah and serves as a program administrator within the Division of Aging and Adult Services. Ms. Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and completed her master’s program at Bellevue University with a Masters in Human Service Administration. She serves on several boards, including AARP Utah and SLCo Aging. Ms. Lee is passionate about advocacy and services for vulnerable populations so individuals can live their best life with self-directed choices. She enjoys collaborating with aging and disability partners to enhance service provisions and reduce maltreatment among vulnerable populations.
Jane Lowers, PhD, MPA, is an assistant professor in the Division of Palliative Medicine, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Her research focuses on gaps between what people want at the end of life and what is available to them, using a social science lens to examine individual, health system, and societal barriers and opportunities. In particular, her work addresses people who are aging without close family support in the context of dementia. Dr. Lowers shifted to academic research after a career in medical journalism, writing about both clinical and policy developments. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University; a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, with a health policy concentration, from Baruch College; and a PhD in Palliative Care from Lancaster University in England.
Kelly Marnfeldt, MSG, is a doctoral candidate in gerontology at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the intersection of vulnerability, autonomy, and justice for older adults, particularly those living with dementia and those at risk of elder mistreatment. She examines how systems—including health care, social services, and the legal system—shape the rights, safety, and autonomy of older adults, especially those experiencing cognitive impairment.
Ms. Marnfeldt’s dissertation explores how people with dementia, caregivers, and professionals navigate the tensions between safety and autonomy, and how stigma and ageism further complicate these processes. She is especially interested in how advocacy—both personal and collective—can empower people with dementia to shape their own futures and challenge public narratives that devalue their lives. In addition to her research, Ms. Marnfeldt has contributed to community-based projects focused on elder abuse prevention; dementia-inclusive community design; and improved communication between clinicians, people with dementia, and their families. She is committed to research that bridges academic scholarship, policy change, and community action to advance elder justice and promote more inclusive rights-based approaches to aging.
Kylie Meyer, PhD, MSc, is a gerontologist and tenure track assistant professor at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University, and she serves as co-director of the University Center on Aging and Health. Her aging research career began as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Southampton, followed by doctoral training in gerontology at the University of Southern California. Dr. Meyer’s research program focuses on psychoeducational interventions to support family caregivers of persons who live with dementia in multiple domains, such as complex medical/nursing care, healthy caregiving relationships, and financial well-being. Her work in elder mistreatment focuses on interventions to prevent psychological mistreatment within family care contexts. She is dedicated to research translation to ensure innovations reach caregiving families. Currently, Dr. Meyer leads an R01 study from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to conduct a randomized control trial of the Learning Skills Together complex care support intervention, as well as feasibility research funded by NIA to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into caregiver psychoeducation. Dr. Meyer has published 37 articles in leading gerontological journals such as The Gerontologist, Journal of Applied Gerontology, and Aging Mental Health. She is an associate editor of the newest Alzheimer’s Association journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging.
Debbie Muskwe is the geriatrics and extended care (GEC) section chief for the Social Work Service at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, located in Tampa, Florida. She earned her Master’s Degree in Social Work in 2011 from the University of South Florida and is currently working on her Doctor of Social Work at Walden University. Mrs. Muskwe has served as the GEC section chief since 2022 and previously was the non-institutional care supervisor in the GEC Social Work Section. Although she has worked with different populations over her 14-year social work career, she has a passion for addressing gaps in knowledge regarding elder mistreatment in the veteran population, specifically financial exploitation because of the barriers in access to care the exploitation presents.
Megan Nizza, LMSW, is a social worker and current doctoral candidate at Boston University School of Social Work in Massachusetts. She received her MSW from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, where her interest in working with older adults began. After a formative experience interning at a senior center in Brooklyn, New York, Ms. Nizza began working full time as a social worker implementing case management as an advocate and later program supervisor with Maine’s RISE (Repair Harm; Inspire Change) program. As a researcher, her interests are an amalgamation of her past practice experiences, including elder mistreatment and self-neglect conceptualization and social work responses, intervention research, social drivers of health, and disparities in aging trajectories.
Cassidy Paganucci is an experienced victim-witness advocate assigned to criminal cases involving elder victims in California’s Placer County District Attorney’s Office. She is committed to helping seniors navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system, providing support and connection to the victims to resources to promote their well-being, and restoring the victimized. In her current role as an investigative assistant, she is dedicated to working with victims of elder mistreatment and knowing the importance of recognizing the challenges of aging, mental illness, physical illnesses, and different family dynamics. Through her enthusiasm, proactive approaches, and work on an elder-abuse task force team known as PROTECT, she collaborates with community members, government agencies, and local senior-based nonprofits to prevent and support elder victims of crime. PROTECT stands for “Providing Resources and Outreach To Elderly Citizens Together.” Ms. Paganucci loves engaging with her community, providing presentations and materials to educate and raise awareness of elder abuse with a focus on scams targeting senior citizens. Her professional and educational experiences with diverse populations in health care and social settings have equipped her with exceptional skills to offer comprehensive and compassionate services to victims, families, and communities. Ms. Paganucci holds a Bachelor of Behavioral Sciences and has completed numerous trainings, including mass violence advocacy and crisis response training, and she attends the California District Attorneys Association’s Elder Symposium. She is now working toward creating and operating the elder mistreatment silo in a future Victim Resource Center based out of the District Attorney’s Office. Her research is centered on preventing and investigating elder abuse to help directly and indirectly reduce the number of elder victims of crime, keeping Placer County a safe place to live, work, retire, and shop.
Sucharita Paul, MD MPH, is a physician who has made community service, disease prevention, and public health education the center of her career and a focus of her volunteer work. She is currently leading efforts to identify and advocate for vulnerable older adult patients in emergency departments throughout western New York. She also trains emergency medicine residents in exploring areas of public health, including global medicine, addiction and the opiate crisis, gun violence, health disparities, and social inequities in medicine. Her interest in serving disadvantaged and low-resource communities has led her to become involved in international emergency medicine work in both Vietnam and India. Dr. Paul’s previous and current board service includes the COVID-19 Working Group of Western New York (medical expert); UBMD Emergency Medicine; UBMD Emergency Medicine Women Physicians Consortium (coordinator); Gates Vascular Institute/Buffalo General Hospital (co-coordinator, Adopt-A-Family Program); the Carole Fenton Memorial Fund (founding member); and the City of Buffalo Emergency Medical Services Board.
Mandy Peng, MD, is a geriatric physician and assistant professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Colorado (CU) School of Medicine. She provides comprehensive person-centered primary care to older adults with complex medical and psychosocial needs. Dr. Peng also serves as the medical director of the CU Geriatric Medicine Clinic at Kavod Senior Life, a long-term care community for low-income older adults. She leads the Health Equity and Advocacy Track of the Geriatric Fellowship Program, mentoring future geriatricians and working to address social determinants of health through education and community partnership. Her commitment to elder justice is rooted in her broader work addressing health disparities. As part of the NCAEM Mentorship Program, Dr. Peng is currently exploring alternatives to guardianship that better serve the needs of vulnerable adults in Colorado.
Dhyana Velez, MHA, BSN, GERO-BC, GRN, is a board-certified gerontological registered nurse in New Jersey with over 10 years of dedicated service to older adults. Her passion for geriatrics began during her first clinical rotation at a nursing home, and she has since contributed to leading‐edge programs, such as the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP), Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE), and the Age-Friendly 4Ms model. Since 2022, Ms. Velez has served as geriatric coordinator at RWJBarnabas University Hospital in New Brunswick—a Level 1 trauma center with more than 600 beds. In this role, she expanded HELP across five medical-surgical and telemetry units, and she currently manages a team of pre-med students, works in research with the Rutgers Geriatrics Department, and spearheads quality improvement initiatives, such as Set to Eat (which encourages patients to get out of bed for meals) and Clean Smiles (which enhances oral hygiene during hospitalization).
