Host

Christine Rogers
Correspondent
North Carolina Now
Originally from New York, Christine moved to North Carolina in 2000. While in New York she worked as an investigative reporter at an ABC affiliate. She also helped launch the very first Time Warner 24 hour cable news operation. Christine's investigative reporting was recognized with two Edward R. Murrow awards for excellence. She received two Cable Ace awards for her documentary work as well as numerous Associated Press and New York State Broadcasters awards. She is a graduate of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Panelists

Dr. Donald Schmechel
Director
Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Duke University
Dr. Schmechel's research is primarily in neurodegenerative disorders particularly Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinsonism and mixed system atrophies, and frontal lobe dementias. As associate director of the Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, he sees over 200 new patients per year suffering from one of those diseases. In addition, he is the lead specialist clinician in the Durham VAMC Persian Gulf Clinic and Environmental Disorders Clinic.

Dr. Kathleen Welch-Bohmer
Associate Director
Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Duke University
After receiving her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Virginia and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa, Dr. Welsh-Bohmer was recruited in 1987 to the faculty of Duke University Medical Center to serve as the chief neuropsychologist of the then newly formed Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research (Bryan ADRC). Her primary faculty appointment has been in the Department of Psychiatry; she also holds joint appointments within the Department of Medicine (Division of Neurology) and the Department of Psychology. Currently, she is a tenured Professor of Medical Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke Medical Center and she is a Senior Fellow in the Duke Center for Human Development and Aging. Dr. Welsh-Bohmer's research interests over the past 15 years have been in preclinical AD detection and in determining the predictors of cognitive dysfunction and decline in the aging nervous system. She is the associate director of the Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Duke Medical Center and maintains active collaborative ties with the Center for Human Genetics and the Departments of Psychiatry, Medicine, Pathology, Neuroradiology, and Cardioanesthesiology. She has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles, chapters, and abstracts mostly in the area of Alzheimer's disease, memory, and aging.

Steve Morton
Chief Operating Officer
Southern Assisted Living
A California native, Steve Morton earned an undergraduate degree in economics at the University of California. He has been active in the retirement housing and senior care field since 1982.  In 1996, he co-led the founding of Southern Assisted Living, Inc. or "SALI" in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. SALI opened its first "Carolina House" assisted living community in Chapel Hill in 1997 and has grown to be the largest provider of assisted living services in the state, serving more than 2,700 residents in 44 locations in the Carolinas and Virginia. He helped direct the rapid growth and timely execution of acquisitions and developed policies and procedures to meet the needs for all of SALI's Assisted Living and Alzheimer's residents. Mr. Morton is a current board member of the Long Term Care 100, a group of the largest 100 Long Term Care providers in the country. In addition to his strong involvement in the day to day operations and strategic management of SALI, Mr. Morton also maintains memberships in selected industry organizations such as the Assisted Living Federation of America and the American Senior Housing Association. Mr. Morton and SALI are also intimately involved with the North Carolina Alzheimer's Association.

Bob Dunlap
Executive Director
Alzheimer's Association -- Western Carolina Chapter
With offices in Asheville, Winston-Salem and Hickory, the Alzheimer's Association brings help, hope and support to those with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, their families and caregivers in North Carolina's 49 Western counties.

Lanier Cansler
Deputy Secretary
NC Dept. of Health and Human Services

Dr. Daniel Lee
Associate Clinical Professor
East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine
Dr. Lee did his neurology training at Washington University and has won numerous teaching awards there and at East Carolina University. Currently he is an associate clinical professor at the East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, clinical director of the East Carolina Neurology Memory Disorder Clinic and medical director of the Pitt County Memorial Hospital Sleep and Circadian Rhythm Disorder Center.

Audience Members

Lisa Gwyther
Education Director and social worker
BRYAN Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Duke University
With over 30 years experience in aging and Alzheimer's services, Lisa Gwyther is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, a Core Faculty member of the Institute on Care at the End of Life at the Duke Divinity School and a Senior Fellow of Duke's Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. She received her graduate training in social work at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. In 1980, she started the Duke University Center for Aging's Alzheimer's Family Support Program, a model state clearinghouse, training and technical assistance center for families and professionals caring for people with Alzheimer's disease. Ms. Gwyther also directs education for the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Duke University Medical Center.

Henry Edmonds
Director
African-American Community Outreach Program of Duke's BRYAN Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

Cathy Armstrong
Alzheimer's Care Coordinator
Carolina House of Chapel Hill