Stephen Trzeciak, MD, MPH is a physician scientist, the Edward D. Viner Endowed Chief of Medicine at Cooper University Health Care, and Professor and Chair of Medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey. Dr. Trzeciak is a practicing intensivist (specialist in intensive care medicine), and a clinical researcher with more than 100 publications in the scientific literature. Dr. Trzeciak's publications have been featured in prominent medical journals, such as JAMA, Circulation, and The New England Journal of Medicine. His scientific program has been supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, with Dr. Trzeciak serving as Principal Investigator. Dr. Trzeciak is the co-author of Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence that Caring Makes a Difference (2019), and Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself (2022). His work has been featured in numerous media outlets including CNN, NPR, USA TODAY, The Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, and Freakonomics. For this work, he was awarded the Influencers of Healthcare Award by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Broadly, Dr. Trzeciak’s mission is to raise compassion and kindness globally, through science. Dr. Trzeciak is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He earned his medical degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his Master’s of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his residency training at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his fellowship in critical care medicine at Rush University Medical Center. He is board certified in internal medicine, critical care medicine, and neurocritical care.

Kimberly J. Beiting, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is medical director of the geriatric medicine consult service. Her primary clinical and research interests center around the care of older adults with substance use disorders. She is a current recipient of a HRSA Geriatric Academic Career Award, a four-year career development award through which she is developing interprofessional education in the principles of age-friendly care for those caring for older adults with substance use disorders in a variety of care settings.

Justine Landi, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and faculty at the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at University of Chicago. Her scholarly interests are focused on care of older adults with Opioid Use Disorder, specifically focused on the clinical and ethical challenges of managing OUD with co-occurring dementia in the outpatient, inpatient, and PALTC settings. She is a medical educator, specifically teaching medical students, residents, and fellows the principles of geriatric and palliative medicine, clinical medical ethics, and serious illness communication.

Rossana Lau-Ng, MD, MBA, CMD, is a geriatrician and clinician educator who practices in post-acute and long-term care. She has a scholarly interest in interprofessional collaboration, addressing health inequities and the care of older adults with substance use disorder through education in skilled nursing facilities. She was awarded the HRSA-funded Geriatric Academic Career Award in 2019, and despite the pandemic, has successfully promoted and taught geriatric principles to interprofessional learners in nursing homes on the care of patients with opioid use disorder. She is the Medical Director of the Nursing Home Program at the Section of Geriatrics, Boston Medical Center and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine. She is one of the founding members of the Decanter Program at Boston Medical Center, working with an interprofessional team addressing social determinants of health by identifying uninsured or underinsured patients in the hospital with skilled nursing and therapy needs, and transitioning them to post-acute care facilities.

Stacie Levine, MD, is Professor and Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) and serves as the regional Medical Director of the Symphony Post Acute Network, a nursing home (NH) chain that owns 29 facilities operating in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan. Her academic interests focus on education and program development to improve care for vulnerable older adults and other patients with complex comorbid illnesses. She is an experienced mentor of physicians and allied health professionals and a national leader in geriatrics and palliative medicine with extensive experience in creation and dissemination of competency-based educational programs. Dr. Levine has extensive experience in NH care and have been conducting research on opioid and substance use disorders in persons transitioning to NHs. She is currently Co-PI of a large-scale, multi-centered project that involves longitudinal training in clinical and teaching skills, program development, leadership engagement, and patient advocacy for physicians, advanced practice practitioners, psychologists, social workers, and chaplains across the United States and internationally. Dr. Levine has served on various national scientific boards and committees. More recently, she is the Director-at-Large of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) Board of Directors, member of the AAHPM Governance Committee, and Chair of the AAHPM Workforce and Leadership Development Strategic Coordinating Committee. Dr.Levine has been the Bucksbaum Institute Faculty Scholar since 2012 and has been awarded Chicago's Top Doctors in 2013, 2018-2022.

Dr. Zarowitz (PharmD, MSW) is an Affiliate Professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy who teaches interprofessional students from medicine, nursing, pharmacy, social work. She mentors fellows and residents in geriatric pharmacotherapy research at the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging. Dr. Zarowitz serves as a Board member of the Foundation for PALTC , Chairperson of the Grant Committee, and a reviewer for JAMDA.

After receiving his PhD in Health Services Research, Dr. McGarry completed post-doctoral training in health and economics policy at Harvard University. He is an Assistant Professor, Division of Geriatrics and Aging, Department of Medicine and Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY. Brian is funded by the National Institute on Aging to study The Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias on Older Adults’ Medicare Coverage Choices. He was the Foundation for PALTC 2023 grant awardee for his work on The Impact of Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality on COVID-19 Outcomes in U.S. Nursing Homes.

Dr. Semelka is an Assistant Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine whose research is focused on clinical health outcomes in frail older adults. He serves as a nursing home medical director supervising the care of patients undergoing rehabilitative post-acute care and residential long-term care. Since completion of a T32 research post-doctoral fellowship and master's degree in translational science, Dr. Semelka has received numerous awards and made critical contributions to science.

Jamehl Demons, MD, is an associate professor of Internal Medicine/Geriatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She is a graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine and the internal medicine residency and geriatrics fellowship of Wake Forest. She states as her reason for entering geriatrics is to provide care to post-acute and long-term care nursing home residents. Dr. Demons is a past president of the North Carolina Medical Directors Association (now CPALTC) and is excited to begin her fourth year as the Co-Director of the Society’s Futures Program. She serves on the DEI taskforce and has helped plan its annual symposia.

Rollin Wright, MD, MS, MPH is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. She is a geriatrician and clinician educator who develops curricula for and teaches health professions students, residents, and fellows in post-acute care, hospital, and memory clinic settings. She is passionate about teaching how to work with and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia.

Jessica Zering serves as the antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist at the Washington State Department of Health, bringing over a decade of experience across various roles and settings. She is dual board certified in infectious diseases & pharmacotherapy. Currently, Dr. Zering co-hosts an antimicrobial stewardship collaborative for skilled nursing facilities across Washington State and serves as vice president for WA-PALTC. Additionally, she is a member of the Infection Advisory Subcommittee for PALTC.

Kelly M. Hatfield, DrPH, MSPH is an epidemiologist and team lead in the Office of Prevention Research and Evaluation in the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at CDC. She leads several innovative research and surveillance projects related to the understanding and preventing antimicrobial resistance and healthcare-associated infections in various healthcare settings, including nursing homes.

Sing T. Palat, MD, CMD, is a medical director for Optum Senior Community Care. She works with advance practice clinicians in long-term care settings and precepts medical students, residents and fellows. Dr. Palat is the President of the Colorado chapter of PALTmed and a House of Delegates Representative to the PALTmed Board.

Laurent Adler, MD, CMD is a Senior Medical Director for Optum’s ISNP Nursing Home Plan in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  He is responsible for quality care by serving as a resource to field-based clinicians, drives critical thinking at the senior leadership team level and coordinates solutions to clinical challenges.  He is vice-president of the Georgia chapter of AMDA.

Sean Fahey, JD, is a health attorney who helps skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, home health providers, and hospice providers navigate regulatory and compliance matters. Sean represents physicians and providers in designing, negotiating, and drafting medical director agreements. Sean represents health care clients in all areas of health care compliance, governance, transactions, Medicare enrollment, administrative appeals, and agreements. Sean counsels nonprofit clients on charitable operations and governance. 

Arif Nazir, MD, CMD, currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for BrightSpring Health Services, Primary Care, a large, value-based, geriatric practitioner organization, and the Chief Medical Officer for Signature HealthCARE. He is Past President for AMDA, founding member for the Society’s Innovation Council, and Co-chair of Society’s Drive to Deprescribe initiative. As a healthcare leader, researcher, entrepreneur, and an implementation champion, he continues to focus his efforts on finding practical solutions for solving care coordination gaps and on enhancing leadership and teamwork in the PALTC frontlines.

Alan Horowitz, Esq., RN, is of counsel in the Healthcare practice and a member of the Post-Acute & Long-Term Care team at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP.. He is an innovative healthcare lawyer handling complex regulatory issues concerning Medicare providers such as skilled nursing facilities. Alan serves as vice chair of education for AHLA's Post-Acute and Long-Term Care practice group. Alan also held clinical, faculty and management positions at major medical centers where he utilized his background as a registered respiratory therapist and registered nurse. Alan served as Assistant Regional Counsel at the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the General Counsel. He worked closely with and litigated cases for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) before the HHS Departmental Appeal Board and the federal courts involving enforcement actions taken by CMS. Currently, as counsel to providers, Alan has successfully negotiated and litigated significant cases against CMS. Alan was the Acting Director of ECRI Institute’s National Center for Independent Medical Review and also served as the Director of Clinical and Legal Affairs for the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Alan also served as in-house counsel and program director for the pilot SNF-based ventilator-dependent program in New Jersey. Alan has co-authored and co-edited the AHLA publication, Post-Acute Care Handbook: Regulatory, Risk and Compliance Issues as well as having written dozens of articles regarding various aspects of health law. Additionally, Alan has been a frequent presenter at national and state forums on topics regarding health law.

Karl Steinberg, MD, CMD, HMDC, HEC-C, is chief medical officer for Mariner Health Care and Beecan Health, and medical director for two skilled nursing facilities (Life Care Center of Vista and Carlsbad by the Sea Care Center), for Hospice by the Sea, and for Scripps Seaport Home Health in the San Diego area. He is the president of AMDA, editor-in-chief emeritus of Caring for the Ages, and an Associate Editor of JAMDA. Dr. Steinberg has served as a nursing home and hospice medical director, attending physician and educator in San Diego for over 25 years and has served on AMDA's Board of Directors, multiple committees, and a variety of Clinical Practice Guidelines and other Society publications and products. He is an AMDA delegate to the AMA House of Delegates.

Peter Jaggard, MD, CMD, FACP, is in his 40th year of PALTC practice, with over 20 years of experience as a Medical Director. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics. He has an extensive background in education and teaching at AMDA-SPALTC, presenting at the state and national level on reducing rehospitalizations, Advance Care Planning, and other topics. He has served as a Chair of the AMDA-SPALTC Ethics Committee and has earned an MA focusing on Bioethics from Trinity International University. He was the recipient of AMDA's James Pattee Award for Excellence in Education in 2022.

Reenu Varghese, DNP, APRN, FNP-C, is a nurse practitioner at the University of Texas Medical Branch and an adjunct professor at the Houston Christian University. She has been a nurse practitioner for the past fifteen years and precepts medical, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant students.

Kristin M. MacDonald, PhD, MS, RD, is an Assistant Professor of Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University. She researches experienced compassion at work and well-being among nurisng home direct care workers. Kristin teaches person-centered care, health care management and performance, and service learning. She has worked as a nursing home administrator, and a clinical dietitian in various settings. As an administrator Kristin's organization was featured among U.S. News and World Reports’ “Best Nursing Homes." She guided this facility through a ‘zero-deficiency’ state survey, and her organization received state-level recognition for adoption of person-centered care. Kristin is a proud Tillman Scholar.

Jamie Smith, FNP-C, is a Clinician Training Specialist for Eventus Wholehealth. She has served as an educator and nurse practitioner for a total of eleven years. Her passion for educating extends beyond just to those in the organization. She is an advocate for education to all those involved in the care of patients. She has served as an author of Geriatric Notes alongside Dr. Brad Goad with Premier Geriatric Solutions (now a part of Eventus WholeHealth), and served at PGS in the capacity of Chief Education Officer.