Applied Aging Research

Dr. David Bass is Senior Vice President, Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. He has led over 80 funded research projects on topics such as: coping with chronic illness; family caregiving; quality of care and services; dementia and dementia care; and use and impact of formal services and informal support. Results of these investigations have been widely published in scientific and clinical journals, such as the Journal of the American Geriatric Society and The Gerontologist. Results also have been used to develop innovative programs for older adults and their family members, such as BRI Care Consultation™, which currently is being delivered by over 50 licensed service organizations across the US.

His current research focuses on development, testing and implementation of evidence-based programs, with a special emphasis on care for persons with Alzheimer's disease or other dementias and their family caregivers, and caregiving among diverse populations. In accord with the mission of Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, a consistent theme of Dr. Bass’ work is the translation of research into practical applications that enhance the wellness of, and quality of care for, older adults and their family members. Dr. Bass received his doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Akron and Kent State University in 1985.

Jessica Bibbo, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, where she works on research and evaluation studies to better serve older adults and their caregivers. She joined Benjamin Rose in 2018.

Dr. Bibbo’s research focuses on aging, caregiving and human-animal interaction. Her work investigates the impact of pet ownership and the human-animal bond on the lives of older adults and their families. She has published peer-reviewed articles on the impact of older adults’ pets on the instrumental and emotional experiences of the older adults’ caregivers. Prior to joining Benjamin Rose, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Organization for Human-Animal Interaction Research and Education lab in the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University.

Dr. Bibbo earned her Ph.D. in Human Environmental Science at the University of Missouri in 2016. She was a student in the Human Development and Family Science department, a graduate research assistant at the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction and a G. Ellsworth Huggins Graduate Scholar.

She is currently a Convener for the Human-Animal Interaction Special Interest Group of the Gerontological Society of America and serves on the Editorial Board for the Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin published by the American Psychological Association.

Dr. Farida Kassim Ejaz is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. Dr. Ejaz has served as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator, or Consultant on more than 30 externally funded research grants. She has over 30 years of experience in conducting applied aging research. Specialty areas of her research include examining abuse, neglect and exploitation among older adults and adults with disabilities; examining quality of life, care and consumer satisfaction in residential care facilities and community-based settings; examining issues related to direct service workers; and examining the oral health conditions of older adults.

Dr. Ejaz received her Ph.D. in Social Welfare Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She was invited to serve on the Technical Expert Panel to review screening and assessment tools for the elder justice field by the Administration for Community Living; for developing consumer satisfaction tools for assisted living and nursing home resident surveys by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. She is a recipient of the Altrusa Women’s scholarship, was awarded scholarships from Case Western Reserve University and received awards for academic excellence from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, India.

Dr. Ejaz is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), past Convener of the Aging Among Asians interest group at GSA and is a member of the American Society on Aging (ASA), co-chair of the Research Peer Group at ASA, a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education and Ohio’s Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Commission. She was selected as a member of GSA’s delegation to the German Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics in September 2016.

Dr. Ejaz has taught courses at local universities including at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at CWRU. She has designed an International Fellowship Program in Gerontology at Benjamin Rose. She has over 50 publications in peer reviewed journals and book chapters, and has given over 160 presentations at national and professional conferences.

Sara Powers is a Research Scientist in the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, and works on a variety of research and evaluation projects focused on bettering the lives of older adults and caregivers.

Prior to joining Benjamin Rose in 2018, Dr. Powers was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. While in academia, she taught courses related to developmental psychology and aging, as well as statistics and research methods.

Over the years, Dr. Powers has presented her research at both local and national conferences (e.g., Gerontological Society of America, American Psychological Association, Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education). She has presented on topics surrounding well-being and adjustment in widowhood, individuals living with dementia and their subjective illness experiences, transgender and gender nonconforming older adults’ perspectives on aging, as well as the cultural underpinnings of the informal caregiving experience. Dr. Powers has also published her research in a variety of peer-reviewed journals such as Dementia, LGBT Health, Women & Therapy and The Gerontologist.

Dr. Powers earned her Bachelor of Arts at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology. She then went on to The University of Akron in Akron, Ohio for her graduate studies, where she earned her Master of Arts and PhD in Adult Development and Aging.

Carol J. Whitlatch, Ph.D., FGSA is the Assistant Director of the Center for Research and Education at Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. For nearly 35 years, she has served as Principal or Investigator on nearly 20 research projects focusing on a variety of topics related to family caregiving, including: developing and evaluating evidence-based interventions, choice and decision making in diverse family care dyads and topics related to early-stage dementia. She is one of the original developers of the evidence-based program, SHARE for Dementia (Support, Health, Activities, Resources, and Education) which is in use in the U.S. as well as internationally.

Dr. Whitlatch received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in Gerontology at the University of Southern California and Doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from Pennsylvania State University. In 1994, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Health Psychology at U.C. San Francisco. In total, she has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and co-authored a book about family caregiving in dementia care. In 2018, Dr. Whitlatch received the M. Powell Lawton award for excellence in applied gerontological research from the Gerontological Society of America. She is also the recipient of the 2019 Ohio Researcher of the Year award from the Ohio Association of Gerontology and Education. Dr. Whitlatch is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Sociology at Case Western Reserve University.