Presenter Bios 2008
Gordon J. Chelune, PhD, ABPP(CN)
Dr. Chelune is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and the Senior Neuropsychologist at the University's Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging and Research (CACIR). Dr. Chelune's research has focused on methods to discern changes in memory caused by disorders such as Alzheimer's disease from those that occur with normal aging. Dr. Chelune has pioneered ways to assess cognitive changes in patients after epilepsy surgery, cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, anesthesia and drug interventions.
Norman L. Foster, MD
Dr. Foster is Professor of Neurology at the University of Utah School of Medicine. In 2005, he helped found the University's Center for Alzheimer's Care, Imaging and Research (CACIR), the first academic clinic in the Intermountain West solely devoted to the care of Alzheimer's and related disorders. The Center uses PET imaging to better understand the mechanisms that cause different forms of Alzheimer's, and they have developed an innovative new model for clinical dementia care that is being implemented throughout the region. Dr. Foster's approach illuminates how degeneration in specific brain regions corresponds to varied behaviors and differs among patients with different dementing diseases.
David Knopman, MD
Dr. Knopman is Professor of Neurology at the Mayo Clinic Rochester Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. He is also Consultant in Neurology at the Mayo Clinic and a co-investigator in the Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. His research and clinical interests focus on dementing illnesses. He is an author on over 80 articles on various topics in dementia. He became Associate Editor of Neurology in January 2007. He has been a member of the American Academy of Neurology for over 25 years.
Kim Petersen, MD and Gail Petersen, PhD
Husband and wife team, Drs. Kim and Gail Petersen, have been caring for persons with dementia for over thirty years, as both professional and family caregivers.
Kim Petersen, MD is a geriatrician who has been the Director of a Memory Diagnostic Center. He has also served as a Certified Medical Director for assisted living and long-term care and is a past president of the Wisconsin Medical Directors Association. He is a founding board member of the Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute and serves on the South Central Alzheimer's Association board of directors. Dr. Petersen frequently provides medical-legal consultation for dementia and quality of care issues.
Gail Petersen, PhD is an educator who was the cognitive specialist for a Memory Diagnostic Center. She and her husband compiled and edited the Memory Diagnostic Center Tools and Protocols Workbook and have served as consultants and trainers to enable fifteen communities throughout the country to establish Memory Diagnostic Centers. Each year they present over one hundred talks to professionals and lay people throughout the country in their mission to improve quality of life and care for persons with cognitive impairment and those who care for them.
Martha Stearn, MD
Dr. Stearn is an internist in Jackson Hole, as well as an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Washington. In February 2008, she completed a mini-fellowship at the University of Utah Cognitive Disorders Clinic. She is founder of the annual Cognitive Health & Memory Disorders Conference.
Carol Taylor, MSW
Carol Taylor is a geriatric social worker. She is Chair of the Board for A Better Way Coalition, a nationally recognized organization promoting compassionate end-of-life care. She also served on the Idaho Commission on Aging. She brings 30 years of experience as a noted clinician, educator and facilitator to health care professionals, patients and family caregivers. Carol is a social worker in the Oncology Department at St. John's Medical Center.
