RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council Meeting 

April 28, 2021

Speaker Biographies

Administration for Community Living 

Alison Barkoff

Acting Administrator & Assistant Secretary for Aging

Alison Barkoff was sworn into office as the Principal Deputy 

Administrator on January 20, 2021, and currently is serving as 

Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging. In this 

capacity, she provides executive direction, leadership, guidance 

and coordination for ACL programs nationwide and advises the 

HHS Secretary on issues affecting individuals with disabilities and older adults.

Ms. Barkoff comes to ACL from the Center for Public Representation, where she served 

as Director of Advocacy. In that position, she led policy advocacy with federal agencies 

and Congress and legal advocacy nationally to advance community living and inclusion, 

including in the areas of healthcare, Medicaid home- and community-based services, 

employment, housing, and education. She led and participated in numerous coalitions 

with disability and aging organizations, including as co-chair of the Long-Term Services 

and Supports Task Force of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities. She has 

testified before Congress and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on disability rights 

and was appointed to serve on the federal Advisory Committee for Competitive 

Integrated Employment of People with Disabilities.

Ms. Barkoff previously served as Director of Advocacy at the Bazelon Center for Mental 

Health Law, where she worked on a range of disability, healthcare, education and civil 

rights issues. In earlier government roles, she served as Special Counsel for Olmstead 

Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, leading efforts to 

enforce the rights of people with disabilities to live, work and fully participate in their 
communities. She also worked with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

within the Department of Health and Human Services on policies related to Medicaid 

home- and community-based services and with the Department of Labor on issues 

affecting the workforce providing in-home services. She is a sibling to an adult brother 

with developmental disabilities and been involved in disability advocacy her entire life. 

She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University and her Juris Doctor 

from Emory University School of Law.

Greg Link, MA 

Director of the Office of Supportive and Caregiver Services

Greg Link is the Director of the Office of Supportive and Caregiver 

Services with the Administration for Community Living/U.S. 

Administration on Aging, which oversees programs funded under the 

Older Americans Act (OAA), including Title III-B in-home supportive 

services, Title III-E National Family Caregiver Support Program as well 

as ACL’s Alzheimer’s disease programs. Greg and his team also 

provide general oversight and technical assistance to the aging network on a range of 

program areas, including Information and Referral, family caregiver support programs 

and policies, housing, employment, transportation, LGBT aging, and Holocaust 

Survivors. 

Before coming to ACL/AoA, Greg worked at the National Association of State Units on 

Aging where he provided technical assistance and training to states on family care 

giving, consumer direction, and transportation. Greg has also worked at the community 

level as a case manager and social services manager at Senior Friendship Centers in 

Fort Myers, Florida. There, he oversaw the social services staff and the delivery of 

services funded by the Older Americans Act, state funds and Medicaid waivers. 

Greg holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Central Florida and 

a Master of Arts in Government from Johns Hopkins University.
Older Adults’ Equity Collaborative (OAEC) Presentation

Joon Bang

President & CEO

National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA)

Joon Y. Bang is the President and CEO of the National Asian 

Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA), the nation’s only nonprofit 

organization with the mission to preserve and promote the dignity, 

well-being, and quality of life of Asian Americans and Pacific 

Islanders, and diverse communities as they age countrywide. Prior to joining NAPCA, 

Joon served as Executive Director of the Korean American Coalition (KAC) in Los 

Angeles. Under his leadership, KAC was selected as a California Nonprofit of the Year 

honoree in 2017 and in the following year he received the 2018 Impact-Maker to Watch 

award, an annual distinction for those who are doing foundational work to make a 

positive impact in Los Angeles with significant results.

Elana Kieffer, MBA

Acting Director, Center for Healthy Aging

The New York Academy of Medicine

Elana Kieffer is the Acting Director of The New York Academy of 

Medicine’s Center for Healthy Aging. She has 15 years of 

experience working in a wide range of older adult services, with a 

focus on project management, program development, and sales 

and marketing. Prior to her time at the Academy, Elana worked at The New Jewish 

Home and at MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care. She also worked in affordable and 

market-rate senior housing for two Boston-based organizations, The Community 

Builders and Hebrew SeniorLife. Elana has an MBA in nonprofit management with a 

concentration in aging services from the Heller School at Brandeis University.

Keisha Lewis, MS, OTR/L, CDCES, CAPS

Consultant, Health Programs

National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. (NCBA)

Keisha Lewis is a practicing occupational therapist and certified 

diabetes care and education specialist with more than 17 years of 

experience working in the fields of human services, mental health, 

and physical disability. She serves as a consultant with the Health Programs for the 
National Caucus and Center on Black Aging, Inc. In 2019 Keisha Co-Founded 

Welldom LLC, an Aging in Place Consultancy.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy and a Master of 

Science in Health Promotion Management with certifications as a Diabetes Care and 

Education Specialist and Certified Aging in Place Specialist. 

Keisha’s ultimate focus is empowering individuals with the skills they need to be 

independent in their environment without fear. 

Rebecca Owl Morgan

Project Coordinator

National Indian Council on Aging (NICOA)

Rebecca Owl Morgan is a Project Coordinator at the National 

Indian Council on Aging (NICOA). She is an enrolled member of 

the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians located in the Great Smoky 

Mountains of North Carolina. She has degrees in history and 

library science. Her work at NICOA has highlighted the strengths and proud history of 

Native people and the helpful tools elders can use to become powerful self-advocates 

for themselves and their tribe. 

Shannon Patrick, MPH

Program Director

MHP Salud

Shannon Patrick received a master’s in public health degree from 

the University of Michigan and has four years of experience 

managing Community Health Worker programs in Hispanic 

communities. She is currently the director of 

MHP Salud’s Strengthening Aging service for Older Hispanic 

Adults program, a minority Technical Assistance Resource Center 

(TARC) funded by the Administration for Community Living. 

Shannon has experience teaching, conducting research, and presenting her work at 

various local, state, and national level conferences.
Sherrill Wayland, MSW

Director of National Education Initiatives

SAGE

Sherrill Wayland is the Director of National Education 

Initiatives where she directs work of the National Resource 

Center on LGBT Aging (NRC), SAGE/HRC Foundation 

Long-term Care Equality Index and leads operations for 

SAGECare. Sherrill began work with SAGE at the local 

level in 2008, founding the SAGE Affiliate in St. Louis, MO 

and became a certified trainer with SAGE in 2011. Prior to joining SAGE at the national 

level, she successfully led the merger of SAGE in St. Louis with the Missouri Statewide 

Equality Organization, PROMO Fund. Sherrill earned a Master of Social Work degree 

from the Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis and has over 

25 years of professional experience in the fields of education, disability and LGBT older 

adult advocacy.

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Listening Sessions Presentation

Pamela Nadash, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor

Department of Gerontology

McCormack Graduate School

University of Massachusetts

Pamela Nadash is an Associate Professor of Gerontology at 

University of Massachusetts Boston, in the McCormack School of 

Policy & Global Studies and Fellow of the LeadingAge LTSS 

Center@Umass Boston. Her work centers on policies that enable people with long term 

care needs to access the supportive services they need. This work includes a focus on 

financing of long term services and supports, nursing home quality, home and 

community-based services, and supportive housing; it also includes looking crossnationally at different countries’ long term care financing and service delivery systems, 

as well as studying variations in policies and practices among states in the US; she also 

has a special interest in policies that support informed choice and the politics of aging. 

She sits on the Leadership Council of The National Consumer Voice for Quality LongTerm Care. Her work has been published in Health Affairs, Health Services Research, 

The Gerontologist, and The Milbank Quarterly. At UMass Boston, she teaches policy 

courses in the Gerontology PhD program and in the Management of Aging 

Services program. 
Prior to academia, she worked for Thomson Medstat as consultant and has extensive 

experience conducting both qualitative and quantitative studies on aging and disability 

issues for nonprofits, including the Visiting Nurse Service of New York and the National 

Council on Aging. Her career also includes six years as at the Policy Studies Institute 

and the Consumers’ Association in the UK. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Health and 

Political Science from Columbia University and has a master’s in political theory from 

Oxford University and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College. 

Carol Reagan

Senior Advisor 

Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, 

Community Catalyst

With over 40 years of experience with national and state-based 

public policy and advocacy organizations, Carol’s work has 

included policy research, analysis and legislative advocacy 

primarily on health insurance coverage, programs and services for 

low-income children and families, long-term care, caregiving and 

workforce development. Her work at the Center has focused on improving care for 

older adults.

Before joining Community Catalyst, Carol was the Director of Government Affairs for 

PHI (Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute) leading its federal policy work to improve the 

quality of care in the eldercare/disability services sector by improving the quality of jobs. 

Before opening PHI’s Washington, DC office, she was the Director of PHI’s Health Care 

for Health Care Workers campaign, advocating affordable health coverage for direct 

care workers. She has held policy positions at the Service Employees International 

Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union and 

the Children's Defense Fund, authored, and co-authored numerous publications and 

journal articles. Carol was the Interim Executive Director of the Herndon Alliance, an 

Adjunct Professor at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a 

member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Regan received her Master’s in 

Public Health from the University of Michigan.