Age-Friendly LTSS ECHO - Meeting the Palliative and Behavioral Health Needs of Nursing Home Residents with Dementia

Caroline Stephens, PhD, RN, GNP-BC, FGSA, FAAN is an Associate Professor and the Helen Lowe Bamberger Colby Presidential Endowed Chair in Gerontological Nursing. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Psychology and Human Development and Aging from the University of California, Davis. She subsequently attended the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing where she obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, Master of Science degree in Geropsychiatric Advanced Practice Nursing, and Gerontological Nurse Practitioner Post-Master's Certificate. Dr. Stephens then obtained her PhD in Gerontological Nursing and Health Policy at the University of California, San Francisco where she also completed 2 concurrent post-doctoral fellowships - one in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics/San Francisco VA Medical Center as a VA Quality Scholar and the other in the UCSF Dept. of Social and Behavioral Sciences as a John A. Hartford Foundation/Atlantic Philanthropies Claire M. Fagin Postdoctoral Fellow. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Utah College of Nursing in October 2019, she was a tenured faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing. She has over 20 years of clinical experience caring for vulnerable older adults with complex mental and physical multi-morbidity - from in-home primary care in inner-city Philadelphia, to developing the first APN-led geropsychiatric clinical practice in rural Central Valley California, to consulting in over 100 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in 4 states. Her extramurally-funded program of research is focused on improving the health and health care of this diverse population, particularly those at greatest risk for poor care transitions with unmet palliative care needs, and their caregivers.