Executive Director Felicia Greenfield discusses the Penn Memory Center’s Caring for the Caregiver class with PMC staff members.
By Joyce Lee
Felicia Greenfield, LCSW, has been named Executive Director of the Penn Memory Center.
Working alongside PMC Co-Directors Dr. Jason Karlawish and Dr. David Wolk, she will optimize clinical care and research through developing new and enhancing existing programs for patients and family caregivers.
“Felicia has been a major force in all that the Penn Memory Center does, playing integral roles in patient and family care and in our research mission,” Dr. Wolk said. “Her dedication to her work and the many families who suffer with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is inspiring to all of us. We look forward to collaborating with her to continue to move the Penn Memory Center forward as an example for the field.”
Greenfield is charged with “seamlessly and efficiently” integrating PMC’s clinical care and clinical research operations, as well as incorporating best practices to improve the quality of research and care delivered to patients and their caregivers.
With funding from a generous gift from the Caplan Family Foundation Charity, Greenfield and her team of counselors will have the opportunity to provide support, education, and resource referrals to even more families caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. This will include additional classes and support groups for caregivers and a new grief and loss group.
The team also plans to host an annual restorative day of self-care for caregivers and deliver a high-quality, low-cost respite program for families. Caregivers or newly diagnosed individuals can also receive supportive counseling on an ongoing or as-needed basis.
Greenfield will also continue to train and supervise Master’s students from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Policy and Practice.
“Advances in diagnostics, therapeutics and, most importantly, health care policy and practice are going to transform the care of older adults, especially those with Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.” Dr. Karlawish said. “Felicia’s leadership in creating innovative care programs and her keen appreciation of how research and care should be thoughtfully and ethically integrated are inspiring, and they’re a vision into the future of a memory center.”
Greenfield joined PMC in 2006 and previously served as the director of clinical research operations and care programs. She is “incredibly grateful” for the experience and “thrilled” to belong on a team of such talented colleagues at PMC.
“Our patients and their family caregivers inspire me daily,” Greenfield said. “Living with and/or caring for loved ones with dementia is incomprehensible to those who have no experienced it. It is a difficult, painful life-altering diagnosis, and until there is a cure, I feel it is my duty to support people on their journeys in the best ways I can. It is truly an honor to be a part of this team.”