I am the Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care & Aging in the Division of Health Policy and Management and School of Public Health at The University of Minnesota. I also direct the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and the CDC-funded Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Caregiving. My research examines the sources and effectiveness of long-term care for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other chronic conditions. An applied gerontologist, my interests include Alzheimer's disease and long-term care, the longitudinal ramifications of family care for persons with dementia and other chronic conditions, and the effectiveness of community-based and psychosocial services for older adults with dementia and their caregiving families. Underpinning these substantive areas, I also have interests in mixed methods and implementation science.

I was the Editor for the Journal of Applied Gerontology (2011-2017) and am a Senior Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA). I currently serve on the editorial boards of Psychology and Aging, the Journal of Applied Gerontology, and Research on Aging. I was awarded the 2003 Springer Early Career Achievement Award in Adult Development and Aging Research, the 2011 M. Powell Lawton Distinguished Contribution Award for Applied Gerontology from the American Psychological Association (Division 20: Adult Development and Aging), the 2011 Dean's Award from the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, and the 2015 Gordon Streib Distinguished Academic Gerontologist Award from the Southern Gerontological Society. I am a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and the American Psychological Association. I am also an Emeritus Long-Term Care Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota and an Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland.