About Dr. Jennifer Stelter

Jennifer Stelter, Psy.D., CDP, CADDCT, CCTP, The Oil Doctor, Psy.D.™, is a clinical psychologist and John’s Hopkins Press author, who specializes in dementia and mental health care. She is the Chief Engagement Officer (CEO) for the Resident Engagement Institute and the Director of Product Research at Linked Senior. Dr. Stelter has 20 years experience in the healthcare field and over a dozen years in the senior living industry. She is also the co-owner and CEO of NeuroEssence, LLC, owner of The Oil Doctor, Psy.D., LLC, Staff Psychologist at Allow Wellness and Care Navigators, and Adjunct Professor at Ivy Tech Community College. Dr. Stelter developed the Dementia Connection Model©, a new model in the dementia care field that explains the why, how, and what of this disease to better strengthen the connection between the person with dementia and their caregiver. She highlights this model in her new book, The Busy Caregiver’s Guide to Advanced Alzheimer Disease. At NeuroEssence, Dr. Stelter, along with her business partner, Jessica Ryan, provides education and training, program development, and consultation services in dementia, mental and behavioral health.

About Rachelle Blough

Rachelle is a certified therapeutic recreational specialist, Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia trainer, and the owner of Rachelle Blough LTD Consulting. She has been in senior care for 25 years and has held various community, regional, corporate and national positions in operations and programming. Rachelle provides consulting and training to various senior care providers. In addition she serves part time as Vice President of Corporate Training for the National Council for Certified Dementia Practitioners.

About Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D.

Cameron J. Camp, Ph.D., originally developed the use of the Montessori method as an intervention for use with persons with dementia. He is a noted psychologist specializing in applied research in gerontology, and currently serves as Director of Research and Development for the Center for Applied Research in Dementia. Dr. Camp gives workshops on designing cognitive and behavioral interventions for dementia internationally.

About Robert Espinoza

Robert Espinoza is the Vice President of Policy at PHI, where he oversees its national advocacy, research, and public education division on the direct care workforce. In 2020, he was selected for the first-ever CARE 100 list of the most innovative people working to re-imagine how we care in America today and as one of Next Avenue’s 2020 Influencers in Aging. He also serves on the board of directors for the American Society on Aging and the National Academy of Social Insurance.

About Dr. Emi Kiyota

Emi Kiyota, Ph.D. is the founder and director of Ibasho, an organization that facilitates the co-creation with elders of socially integrated, sustainable communities that value their elders. Dr. Kiyota holds a Ph.D. in architecture – Environment and Behavior Studies – from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Horticulture Therapy from Kansas State University. She is an environmental gerontologist and a consultant with over 20 years’ experience in designing and implementing person-centered care in long-term care facilities and hospitals globally. She is an organizational culture-change specialist, currently serves as a consultant to implement person-centered care practice in long term care facilities. She has published journal articles and book chapters in Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States and has done pre-design programming for senior housing and addiction treatment centers in the United States and abroad.

In addition to making a vast array of contributions to national and international initiatives focused on quality improvement in the built environment for long-term care and aging services, Emi holds great concern for the needs of elders in the developing world. Over the past several years, Emi has dedicated her energies to developing ageing valued community projects in Japan, Nepal, and Philippines. To this end, Emi has formed Ibasho, embodying the Japanese concept of “a place where one feels at home being one’s self” with a group of like-minded colleagues. Ibasho aims to create socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable communities that value their elders. With this vision, She has been involved in development for housing and services for elders in Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Ivory Coast.

Her current focus is on creating socially integrated and resilient cities where elders are engaged and able to actively participate in their communities. She serves on the board of directors of the Global Ageing Network. Dr. Kiyota has been awarded fellowships to investigate this topic, including the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, the Rockefeller Bellagio Residency Fellowship for a one month residency on an ‘Innovative Response to Global Aging’ from the Rockefeller Foundation. She worked on developing her idea on creating a process for community planning that embraces and engages elders for the benefit of all. She‘s also been awarded the Atlantic Fellowship for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute at University of California, San Francisco.

About Vicki de Klerk-Rubin

Vicki de Klerk-Rubin is an RN, Validation Master Teacher and the Executive Director of the Validation Training Institute. Together with her mother, Naomi Feil who created the Validation method, she revised her books The Validation Breakthrough and Validation: the Feil Method, and authored the books: Validation Techniques for Dementia Care: a Family Guide, and Validation for First Responders.

About Jessica Ryan, B.S.

Jessica Ryan, B.S., CDP, The Oil Mama ™, is a Biologist and Educator. She is the CEO of The Oil Mama, LLC and co-owner and CFO of NeuroEssence, LLC. She has 15+ years of experience in education and science. For almost a decade, she has committed to staying on the forefront of evidence-based essential oil uses. She has pioneered a specialization in working with the “vintage” population, healthcare professionals, and caregivers to educate them on the usage of therapeutic essential oils for longevity and quality of life.

About David Troxel

David Troxel has become nationally and internationally known for his teaching and writing about dementia care and for the development (with Virginia Bell) of the Best Friends Approach. He has worked in university and local non-profit settings as well as the Alzheimer’s Association. He has a particular interest in activities and engagement, and promotes the importance of socialization and therapeutic environments to enhance the lives of persons living with dementia.

About Kay Van Norman

Kay Van Norman, President of Brilliant Aging, is a healthy aging expert who directed the Keiser Institute on Aging, serves on international boards, speaks and consults around the world and has an extensive list of publications. Kay is dedicated to helping senior living communities create and deliver on their wellness brand promises.

About Rachael Wonderlin

Rachael Wonderlin is an internationally-recognized dementia care expert and educator. She has a Master’s in Gerontology and is a Johns Hopkins University Press three-time published author. She has been featured in Senior Housing News, The Washington Post, Forbes and on PBS Next Avenue. Her “16 Things I’d Want If I Got Dementia” poem has circulated the globe many times over. One of Rachael’s clients, English Meadows, won first place in Senior Housing News’ 2022 Aspect Awards for their brand launch of Lavender Hills—a brand Rachael worked closely with them to build. Rachael accepted the University of Mary Washington’s “Outstanding Young Alumnus” award in 2020 and, the same year, accepted an award from University of North Carolina at Greensboro for “Distinguished Graduate School Alumnus.” Dementia By Day was a Gold Sponsor for the Senior Housing News’ BRAIN Conference in July 2023. Rachael Wonderlin is the owner of Dementia By Day, a dementia care consulting firm and education company. While Dementia By Day works primarily with senior living companies looking to build or better their dementia care programs, they also have a large family caregiver audience.

About Dawn Worsley

Dawn Worsley, ADC, CDP. NCCAP President. Owner of Dawn on the Horizon, LLC in Baltimore, MD. Dawn serves on a variety of boards including and is an Activity Director Certified (ADC), Certified Eden Alternative Associate, Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) and NCCAP MEPAP Instructor. Serves as an Activity Director, Consultant for Corporate Program Development, Admissions & Marketing, Director of Alzheimer’s and Gero-psych Units and Regional Clinical Specialist. She is a pioneer and expert in long-term care specializing in regulatory compliance, resident rights and culture change. A National Speaker on topics for Health Care Workers, she is published in both print and video working in collaboration with the University of Maryland Video Press.