Advisory Committee

Liat Ayalon, Ph.D., is a Professor in the School of Social Work at Bar Ilan University (BIU) in Tel Aviv, Israel. Dr. Ayalon is the Israeli PI of the EU funded MascAge program to study ageing masculinities in literature and cinema. She also coordinates an international EU funded Ph.D. program on the topic of ageism called EuroAgeism. Dr. Ayalon previously led an international research network on the topic of ageism, funded through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) IS1402 on Ageism. She consults both national and international organizations concerning the development and evaluation of programs and services for older adults. In recognition of her work, Dr. Ayalon was selected by the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing as one of 50 world leaders working to transform the world to be a better place in which to grow older. She received her B.A. in Behavioral Sciences from Ben-Gurion University in Bee'r Sheva, Israel, and her M.S. in Psychology and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL.

Katie E. Cherry, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, and an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University School of Medicine. Her research program focuses on the impact of hurricanes and flooding on various health indicators across the adult lifespan. Dr. Cherry’s research expertise is also on the psychology of aging and her research interests include memory processes in healthy aging and interdisciplinary studies of healthy aging in the oldest-old. She has over 192 publications including peer reviewed journal articles, book chapters, three edited volumes, and one solo authored book. Her work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, and most recently by the National Science Foundation. She was previously awarded the Emogene Pliner Distinguished Professor of Aging Studies professorship for her contributions to the field of adult development and aging. Dr. Cherry received her B.S. in Psychology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from University of Georgia.

Natalia Festa, M.D., is a Physician trained in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and in Geriatrics at Yale. She is a Doctoral Candidate in the Yale Investigative Medicine Program, and Fellow within the Yale Program on Aging and National Clinician Scholars Program. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College. She earned her medical degree from Stanford University. Her early career has focused on ascertainment of aging outcomes within administrative claims data. More recently, her research has focused on community and nursing home adaptation to reduce the susceptibility of older adults to environmental exposures. Broadly, she remains focused on opportunities to prolong functional independence for older adults.

Mike Hoffmann, Ph.D., is dedicating his life to confronting the grand challenge of climate change and helping people understand and appreciate what is happening through the foods we all love and need. He has published climate change articles in the popular press, including the Hill, Fortune, Medium, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and USA Today, and is lead author of Our changing menu: Climate change and the foods we love and need (Cornell Press, 2021). Dr. Hoffmann’s life experiences include growing up on a one-cow dairy farm, serving in the Marines during the Vietnam War, and being a father and someone’s partner for 50 years. He held multiple leadership roles in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, including Associate Dean, Executive Director of the Cornell Institute for Climate Change Solutions, Director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Associate Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Director of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program. Dr. Hoffmann received his B.S. from the University Wisconsin, M.S. from the University of Arizona, and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. He now holds the title of Professor Emeritus. He will tell the climate change story until he no longer can.

Colin Miner is CEO of the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) and founder of the active-aging industry in North America. Milner is also a leading authority on the health and well-being of the older adult, and has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as one of "the most innovative and influential minds" in the world on aging-related topics. An award-winning writer, Milner has authored more than 300 articles. He has been published in such journals as Global Policy and the Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics. He also contributed a chapter to the World Economic Forum book Global Population Ageing: Peril or Promise? Milner's speeches have stimulated thousands of business and government leaders, industry professionals, and older adults worldwide. Whether Fortune 10 companies or governmental organizations, Milner's efforts have inspired a broad spectrum of groups to seek his counsel. Milner received the CanFitPro Association "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his contributions to the Canadian fitness industry. His tireless efforts have leading-edge publications, television networks, and radio stations seeking his insights.

Harry R. Moody, Ph.D., retired as Vice President for Academic Affairs with AARP and is currently Visiting Faculty at Fielding Graduate University and Tohoku University in Japan. He previously served as Executive Director of the Brookdale Center on Aging at Hunter College and Chairman of the Board of Elderhostel (now Road Scholar). Dr. Moody is author of many scholarly articles and books, including co-author of Aging: Concepts and Controversies (Sage Publishing, 2022), which a gerontology textbook now in its 10th edition. He is the editor two newsletters: "Human Values in Aging" with 5,000 subscribers monthly and “Climate Change in an Aging Society” with 1,000 subscribers weekly. In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society on Aging, and in 2008, he was named by Utne Reader magazine as one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World.” Dr. Moody’s new book, Climate Change in an Aging Society, will be published this year by Routledge. He is a graduate of Yale University and he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Columbia University.

Cary Reid, Ph.D., M.D., is the Director of Cornell’s Translational Research Institute for Pain in Later Life (TRIPLL), and he is an Associate Professor and Director of the Office of Geriatric Research in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Reid’s research focuses on improving the management of pain among older persons and his work at TRIPLL supports translational research on pain and aging in New York City. Dr. Reid has received many research awards over the years, including a Robert Wood Johnson Generalist Physician Scholar Award and a highly coveted Paul Beeson Faculty Scholar on Aging Research Award. He is also a section editor of the journal Pain Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, and he completed his residency in Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and fellowships in both Clinical Epidemiology and Geriatrics Medicine at Yale University.

Michael “Mick” Smyer, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Growing Greener: Climate Action for a Warming World. Growing Greener views people not solely as potential victims of climate change, but also as potential leaders of climate action. Dr. Smyer uses psychology and behavioral economics to help people and organizations replace their habit of climate avoidance with a specific action, the next step on their climate journeys. He is the former Provost and an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Bucknell University, and is also a Senior Fellow in Social Innovation at Babson College. A national expert, Dr. Smyer has written and lectured extensively on aging. In addition to holding leadership roles in national organizations on aging, he has also consulted with Fortune 500 companies, state and national legislative leaders, and higher education organizations on the impacts of aging. His most recent book is Aging and Mental Health, 3^rd Edition (Wiley, 2017) with Daniel Segal and Sara Qualls. Dr. Smyer holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. A native of New Orleans, he provides vocals, keyboard, and “nuanced” washboard with the Rustical Quality String Band, including on their most recent CD, Back Cottage.

Nancy Wells, Ph.D., is an environmental psychologist who studies the effects of the built and natural environment on human health and health behaviors across the lifespan. Her studies have examined the effects of housing quality on mental health; the influence of neighborhood design on walking; and the effects of nature views on cognitive functioning and psychological well-being. Her studies have also looked at environmental sustainability in an aging society and the health outcomes of environmental volunteering for older adults. Dr. Wells currently leads the research component of the USDA-funded Healthy Gardens, Healthy Youth study and is the PI of several related studies examining the effects of gardens on diet, physical activity, and related outcomes. Dr. Wells completed a joint Ph.D. in Psychology and Architecture at the University of Michigan, and she completed a National Institute of Mental Health post doctorate in the School of Social Ecology at the University of California, Irvine.

Leslie Wharton is Chair of the Elders Climate Action (ECA),which is a grassroots organization in the United States whose mission is to mobilize elders to address climate change. She herself first learned about climate change when she was 56 years old. A few years later, shocked by the lack of progress in the U.S. and elsewhere, she searched for ways that she could get involved. She first became involved with ECA in 2015 when she participated in its Grandparents Climate Action Day in Washington, DC. After that experience, she became a member of ECA, started serving on its national committees, started a local chapter, and then she became Chair. Leslie Wharton received a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She spent 25 years as a litigator in private practice and then 12 years in the General Counsel’s office of a federal agency before retiring in 2021.

ECA was formed in 2014 by a former community organizer, and it is the oldest and largest project of Elders Action Network. When Leslie Wharton joined ECA, it had an outreach of approximately 300 elders. Since then, ECA has grown organically with volunteer-run national committees, 12 active state or local chapters, monthly newsletters, educational programs, and it now has an audience of about 25,000 people. Since its inception, ECA has been able to bring on one full-time staff member to support what is otherwise a fully volunteer-led activist organization.