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Penn Memory Center Coordinator of Diversity in Research and Education Karletta Poland (left), PMC Co-Director Jason Karlawish (center left), and PMC ambassador Karen Wheeler (center right) pose with Alpha Phi Alpha brothers after “Alzheimer’s in our Community.”

by Joyce Lee

Karletta Poland, an experienced educator and program manager who has worked closely with the Philadelphia community, has joined Penn Memory Center as Coordinator of Diversity in Research and Education.

Poland will renew the center’s efforts in outreach and education with a focus on the aging African-American population in West Philadelphia. She will promote the recruitment and retention of older adults in research studies at PMC and connect them to the various resources and psychosocial services offered at the center.

Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish was recently awarded the Barbara Bell, M.D., award by the Eastern Pennsylvania Geriatrics Society (EPGS) at the EPGS Annual Meeting and Award Dinner.

The award, formed to honor the memory of Barbara Bell, is given to a physician “who has made significant contributions to the health and welfare of older adults, and who has improved the care of geriatric patients.”

Dr. Karlawish was recognized for this award due to his “tremendous investigative work in the development of Alzheimer’s disease treatments and diagnostics, informed consent, quality of life, and research and treatment decision-making,” according to a statement from EPGS.

Dr. Karlawish is a board-certified geriatrician who sees patients at PMC with mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias or memory problems. As a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Karlawish also conducts research that focuses on the neuroethics and policy of aging, investigating issues on the development of Alzheimer’s disease treatments and diagnostics, biomarker-based concepts of disease, informed consent, and quality of life.

Join the Penn Memory Center this spring for Dance for Health: Active Body, Active Mind, a program in collaboration with the Ralston Center.

The goal of Dance for Health: Active Body, Active Mind is to promote brain health and intergenerational connectedness. Individuals will participate in a dance session once per week and an intergenerational activity with students from area high schools one per month. Participants will also complete surveys before and after the program.

Who: Open to individuals 55 years of age and older who are willing to participate in a weekly dance session for three months.
Time: 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Date: Every Saturday from February 24th to June 2nd* (excluding Memorial Day weekend)
Place: Ralston Center, 3615 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia

To join us, please register by February 22nd by contacting Karletta Poland at 215-573-6095 or karletta.poland@uphs.upenn.edu

Penn Memory Center recently welcomed new Clinical Research Coordinator Matthew Ferrara, who will work on the ongoing National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) study at PMC.

The NACC study is the National Institute on Aging-funded initiative that follows older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease over time. Ferrara will help with scheduling and coordinating visits of research participants in the NACC cohort.

Matthew comes to PMC from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Nicotine Addiction, where he worked as a Clinical Research Assistant. Ferrara holds a bachelor’s of science in neuropsychology from Penn State University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Counseling and Mental Health Services at Penn. He hopes to earn a Ph.D. in clinical neuropsychology and work in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic brain injury in the future.

Join the Penn Memory Center on Friday, January 12, for a performance of the musical, “The Joint is Jumpin’” by the Philly Senior Stage Performers.

Friday, January 12 | 10:30 a.m. to noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

The Philly Senior Stage is a group dedicated to bringing the performing arts to senior adult communities, with the mission of using “the art form called theatre to unlock and unleash the creative energy residing in us all.”

The group has been performing since 2006, when founder Robb Hutter proposed acting and creative drama classes in the retirement community Shannondell at Valley Forge. The initiative quickly expanded to neighboring retirement communities, and now the Philly Senior Stage performs musicals, comedies, and dramas throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

The group works on conducting theater workshops in senior communities, creating original theater shows from the life experiences of participants, and staging classical and contemporary plays with older adults as actors, with the aim of fostering dramatic self-expression and building community.

For more information, visit the Philly Senior Stage website. To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.

The Penn Memory Center has welcomed Denille Carrington to the team as a patient service associate.

Carrington assists patient care coordinator Courtney Coulter with administrative duties at the PMC clinic space in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. Her responsibilities include answering patient phone calls, requesting patient referrals, preparing physician clinical letters for patients, and handling PMC mailing and faxing.

Carrington graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s degree in health policy and administration in December. She is interested in patient care and health administration, and she hopes to pursue a master’s degree in public health in the future.

Carrington replaces Grace Williamson, who joined the front desk staff in the Neuroscience Center as a patient service associate.

The Penn Memory Center Memory Café recently received a grant that will mean continued support of the coffee, treats, musical performances, and cultural outings at the monthly event.

The Penn Medicine CAREs grant is awarded to projects that seek to improve the health and well-being of the community Penn Medicine serves. The grant provides funding each quarter for expenses associated with community outreach activities within the Penn Medicine network.

by Joyce Lee

Penn Memory Center (PMC) senior research coordinator Kristin Harkins was recently honored for her research on health behaviors associated with cognitive decline.

Harkins and PMC clinical research coordinator Grace Stockbower presented their work at the American Public Health Association conference in Atlanta, GA.

Harkins, who presented her capstone Master of Public Health (MPH) project, was a co-recipient of the Retirement Research Foundation Master’s Student Research Award from the conference’s Aging and Public Health section. The award is for a study that is important to the field of aging, rigorous and organized, and potentially beneficial to the field.

by Joyce Lee

“We all become creators in the lens of memory,”explained Patricia Moss-Vreeland as she led patients and caregivers through the layers of meanings and nuances in the Penn Memory Center Art of the Mind gallery.

Moss-Vreeland, a Philadelphia artist, was holding the last workshop in her series accompanying her exhibition, “Revelations and Transformations, Layers of Memory,” co-sponsored by the Penn Memory Center. Sunlight through the third-floor glass windows of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine cast shadows over the participants as Moss-Vreeland explained how each of her art pieces was formed by distinct motifs, colors, patterns, and words.