A new academic year is starting for many of us, bringing new projects, new classes to teach, and, for some, new jobs. Please keep sharing your promotions, job changes, and any personal news you want with us! Let us know if it’s just for our leadership team or if we can also share in this newsletter. (Hint: we love baby photos!) You can email to AWARDNetwork@ucsf.edu or to Joanne.Spetz@ucsf.edu.

Please send us links to your new publications, announcements about your accomplishments, and information about any presentations you’ve made, so we can share them with the Network! You can email AWARDNetwork@ucsf.edu.

Read on for more resources to advance your research on the workforce that serves people living with dementia! Be sure to check out all the latest news at the AWARD Network website.

The AWARD Network is organizing grantwriting groups for grants to be submitted late winter. These are groups of 3-5 people that provide an intensive, supportive group and dedicated time for preparing proposals to NIH or similar proposals to other funders.

The groups will run for about 3-4 months before the submission deadline.

Feedback will be within a group of peers who will be matched based on their career stage and type of proposal. Some feedback can be provided by leaders of the AWARD Network, but most of the feedback will be within the group, which will help develop skills in self-critique alongside generating useful ideas for improvement.

Participants should expect to commit 6 hours of time per week. Two hours will be for synchronous group feedback sessions. Four hours will be for writing, which can be done in two 2-hour synchronous sessions or on your own time.

If you are interested in joining a group, please sign up using our application form.

Transitions and Awards of Summer Training Institute Participants

•  Moroni Fernandez Cajavilca, PhD, received a doctoral degree from New York University and joined the University of Utah as a Postdoctoral fellow.
•  Maria Roche Dean, PhD, RN, is now an Associate Professor at Grand Valley State University.
•  Brystana Kaufman, MSPH, PhD, was promoted to Associate Professor at Duke University.
•   Yeonjung Jane Lee, PhD, MA, was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
• Roy Thompson, PhD, RN, is now an Assistant Professor at Hunter College in the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing. 
• Huiwen Xu, PhD, is now an Associate Professor at Emory University.

Transitions and Awards of Other Network Members

• Susan Chapman, PhD, RN, co-leader of the AWARD Network, has become Professor Emeritus of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF School of Nursing. She will continue her leadership role with the Network.
• Bianca Frogner, PhD, co-leader of the AWARD Network, was appointed as Interim Chair of the University of Washington Department of Family Medicine.
• Emily Gadbois, PhD, was promoted to Associate Professor at Brown University.
•  Zainab Toteh Osakwe, PhD, NP, RN, will be inducted as a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing this fall. This is one of the highest honors a nursing scholar can receive.

New Grants

•  Congratulations to the first-cohort AWARD Network Summer Institute participants who received new grant awards since June 2024: Geoff Gusoff; Brystana Kaufman;Yeonjung Jane Lee; Manka Nkimbeng; Zahra Rahemi; Hanamori Skoblow; Huiwen Xu ; Yongkang Zhang

Please send us your transitions, awards, and new grants so we can share them with the AWARD Network!

The AWARD Network will have its fourth in-person half-day conference in conjunction with the Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting!

We will provide lunch, networking opportunities, and grant updates.An optional no-host group dinner will be arranged.

More information will be available soon – please save the date and make your travel arrangements to join us! Click Here to RSVP



Other events at GSA 2025:

Paid Caregiving Interest Group Events

Friday, November 14, 2:30pm – 4pm: Meeting

Friday, November 14, 4:30pm – 6pm: Sponsored Symposium

For more information, contact Emily Franzosa, Emily.Franzosa@va.gov

CaN-D Data Workshop at GSA 2025

National Core Indicators (NCI) Survey for Dementia Home and Community- Based Services Research

Saturday, November 15, 2025, 8:00am – 12:00pm

Register Here

The full schedule of events with details will be available September 15, 2025. Let us know when you’re presenting so we can share an agenda with AWARD Network members!

Laura Wagner and Maria Roche Dean (who attended the AWARD Network Summer Training Institute) met up at the International Council of Nurses conference in Helsinki, Finland.

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Pilot Awards. Recipients were selected from an impressive group of competitive applications.

Yiqing Qian, Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University

“Towards Better Teamwork Between Paid and Family Care in the Community: Paid Care Experiences and Psychosocial Well-being of Family Caregivers of Older Adults with Dementia”

Reed WR Bratches, Assistant Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham

“Care-Resistant Behaviors and Training Preparedness in the Dementia Care Workforce: Analysis of the National Dementia Workforce Study”

Yeonjung Jane Lee, Associate Professor, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

“Challenges, Motivation, and Resilience in the Dementia Workforce: A Mixed Methods Study of Immigrant Direct Care Workers”

You can learn more about the awardees on the Pilot Award webpage. Thanks to the AWARD Network Pilot Award Selection Committee for their help in selecting these pilot award winners! 

September 3, 2025

Supporting family caregivers managing pain in people living with dementia (Speaker: Jeffrey Boon)

Dr. Jeffrey Boon is board certified as an Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, most recently practicing in the Neuroscience ICU at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He has a BA in philosophy from Rhodes College and an MSN and PhD from Vanderbilt University. He is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at The Ohio State University College of Nursing working with Drs. Todd Monroe and Karen Moss. His research interests center around dementia family caregiving with a focus on the management of pain. Register Here

October 1, 2025

An age-friendly approach to dementia care: applying the 4Ms to interprofessional team-based care (Speaker: Andrea Schwartz)

Andrea Wershof Schwartz, MD, MPH, is a geriatrician and Co-Chair of the VA’s Age-Friendly Health Systems national steering committee. Dr. Schwartz is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Associate Director for Clinical Innovation in the New England Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at VA Boston Healthcare System. Register Here

Watch our Webinar webpage to register for future webinars and view recordings of past webinars.

The National Institute on Aging’s Division of Behavioral and Social Research is hosting a virtual workshop on “Changing Ownership of Health Care Entities” on Thursday, September 4 and Friday, September 5 from 10 AM to 2 PM ET. The workshop will explore trends in health care delivery, focusing on health care contexts (e.g., hospitals, nursing homes) that are consolidating and/or being acquired by investment-oriented groups, such as private equity firms (PE) or real-estate investment trusts (REITs). Learn more about the workshop and register for both workshop dates on the official NIA workshop page.

The AWARD Network is developing a research-ready harmonized dataset of policies and programs that affect the demand, supply, working conditions, and skills of direct care workers. The data compendium is accompanied by detailed documentation that includes references to primary data sources. Research-ready datafiles are available to download to support your research on these policies or to use as control variables in your research.

We have released the harmonized datasets for five policies and programs:

• State Medicaid waiver programs
• Wage pass-through laws
• Training regulations for direct care workers
• Staffing regulations for nursing homes and assisted living facilities
• Medicare-Medicaid Enrollees (Dual Eligibles)



You can download materials from the data compendium webpage, where we will continue to share updates on the data compendium. If you have ideas for additions to the data compendium, please write to us at AWARDNetwork@ucsf.edu. 

We conducted a one-year follow-up survey of 2024 participants, 63% of respondents have published papers or have conference podium presentations or webinars related to dementia clinical care, research, and/or workforce after attending the Summer Institute.

HOLD THE DATE: The 2026 Summer Institute Training will be held the week of July 19^th. Look for application information in early 2026.

Data Are Now Available from the National Dementia Workforce Study!

The National Dementia Workforce Study, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, is conducting the first large, annual surveys of the dementia care workforce in the United States. Survey data and other linked data sources will create an unprecedented resource for researchers to answer critical questions about the workforce and its impact on care and outcomes for persons living with dementia.

The first wave of data on clinicians, nursing home staff, and assisted living staff has been released, and access is free! There are both public-use data files that can be downloaded and restricted-use files available through NIA’s LINKAGE platform.

• You can learn more about this important data resource and sign up for the mailing list at: https://www.ndws.org/.

NIA Supported Centers and Networks Funding Opportunities

Please check to make sure opportunities have not been withdrawn or expired before applying.

•  Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging (SRNDNA) is currently accepting applications for the Open Data Awards. Learn more and apply by September 15, 2025.  

•  US Deprescribing Research Network has opened their request for applications for Pilot Awards to support research related to deprescribing. A required Letter of Intent is due by September 19, 2025, with full application submission by invitation only. Learn more about the pilot grant opportunity and register to their informational webinar on August 26, 2025 at 2:00pm ET.

• The Roybal Centers for Translational Research in the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging are currently accepting applications to fund fully powered, randomized clinical trials on behavioral interventions in aging. Review each Roybal Center funding opportunity announcement for specific requirements for each Roybal Centers and submit a letter of intent by October 15, 2025.  

• Music & Dementia Research Network invites pilot research applications that focus on mechanisms through which music may have a positive impact on health in the context of AD/ADRD. Learn more and submit your application by November 17, 2025.

• Alzheimer’s & Dementia and the Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center (GECC) invite submissions for a special issue dedicated to interdisciplinary research on the exposome and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (ADRD) risk, resilience, and disparities. Learn more and submit your paper by December 31, 2025.

• npjDementia  is calling for papers for the upcoming series that focus on cognitive assessments across diverse populations. Learn more and submit your paper by January 28, 2026.

• Advancing Healthcare for Older Adults from Populations that Experience Health Disparities (R01 - Clinical Trial Optional) (PAR-24-273) – expires January 28, 2028.

• The Role of Work in Health Disparities in the U.S. (R01 Clinical Trials Optional) (PAR-25-292) – expires January 8, 2028.

• Research on Current Topics in Alzheimer’s Disease and Its Related Dementias (R01: PAR-25-332, R21: PAR-25-331) – expires November 2027.

• Notice of Special Interest: AHRQ Announces Interest in Health Services Research to Improve Care Delivery, Access, Quality, Equity, and Health Outcomes for Older Adults (NOT-HS-24-013) – expires May 15, 2027.

To learn more about federal funding opportunities, visit this website.

Alzheimer's Association Funding Opportunities

The Letter of Intent deadline for all three opportunities below is September 4, 2025; the application deadline is November 10, 2025. For more information and to review complete application instructions and eligibility requirements, please visit https://www.alz.org/research/for_researchers/grants/types-of-grants.

• Clinician Scientist Fellowship for All

To support the training of clinician scientists in Alzheimer's and all other dementias. Up to $100,000 total costs per year for 2 to 3 years, not to exceed $250,000 total. Indirect costs are capped at 10%.

• Research Fellowship for All

To nurture the next generation of scientists by providing funding to postdoctoral researchers who have completed their doctoral training and are actively working in Alzheimer’s or dementia-related research. Up to $70,000 total costs per year for 2 to 3 years, not to exceed $200,000 total. Indirect costs are capped at 10%.

• Research Grant for All

To support early-career development of newly independent researchers/clinicians that will lay the groundwork for future research grant applications to federal or other funding entities. Applications are welcome from all areas of Alzheimer’s and related dementia research. Up to $70,000 total costs per year for 2 to 3 years, not to exceed $200,000 total. Indirect costs are capped at 10%.

Other Funding Opportunities

The NBER Coordinating Center for Economic Research on AD/ADRD is pleased to announce a request for applications for their 2025-2026 Early Career Research Awards for the Study of the Economics of AD/ADRD (EC-READ) and Research Awards for the Study of the Economics of AD/ADRD (READ). Please find the RFAs for both awards below. Proposals are due September 10, 2025 at 11:59PM ET.

Research Awards for the Study of the Economics of AD/ADRD (READ)

READ RFA

READ Proposal Submission Form

READ Informational Webinar Sign-up

Early Career Research Awards for the Study of the Economics of AD/ADRD (EC-READ)

EC-READ RFA

EC-READ Proposal Submission Form

EC-READ Informational Webinar Sign-up

RRF Foundation for Aging  fund research that seeks to identify interventions, policies and practices to improve the well-being of older adults and/or their caregivers. Three application cycles per year.

Send us your new articles so we can include them in future newsletters! Email us at AWARDNetwork@ucsf.edu.

Angell S, McCall S, King J, Scales K. Tipping Point: Exploring the Risk of Benefits Cliffs Among Direct Care Workers in Virginia. PHI and LeadingAge Virginia. 2025. https://www.phinational.org/resource/tipping-point-exploring-the-risk-of-benefits-cliffs-among-direct-care-workers-in-virginia/

Bowblis JR, Li S, Kuo YF, Heston-Mullins J, Goodwin JS, Xu H. Lifting federal visitation restrictions and COVID-19 infections in nursing homes. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2025 Jul;26(7):105682. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105682

Chen AC, Fu CX, Grabowski DC. Specialization of Home Health Agencies to Deliver Care for Medicare Advantage Patients. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(8):e2525336. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.25336

Downer B, Holland A, Li S, Xu H. Winter Storm Uri, mortality, and health care use of nursing home residents. JAMA Netw Open. 2025 Apr 1;8(4):e254111. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.4111

Fabius CD, Diehl C, Samus QM, Gallo JJ, Wolff JL. Improving information sharing in Medicaid home and community-based services with learning health systems: Implications for older adults and individuals living with disabilities and dementia. Learn Health Syst. 2025;e70029. doi:10.1002/lrh2.70029

Fabius CD, Thomas KS, Cornman JC, Freedman VA. Black-White differences in long-term services and supports (LTSS) deserts: Implications for unmet care needs. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2025;26(9):105758. doi:10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105758

Geng F, Lu X, White EM, et al. The Patient Driven Payment Model, Skilled Nursing Facility Coding Intensity, and Medicare Expenditures. JAMA Intern Med. Published online July 21, 2025. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.2881 

Jun H, Geng F, McGarry BE, et al. Immigrant Staff in Nursing Homes: Mitigating Staffing Shortages During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Medical Care Research and Review. 2025;0(0). doi:10.1177/10775587251349064

King J, Scales K, Chapman C. Training Standards for Personal Care Aides Across States: An Assessment of Current Standards and Leading Examples. 2025. UCSF Health Workforce Research Center on Long-Term Care. https://healthworkforce.ucsf.edu/sites/healthworkforce.ucsf.edu/files/Report-TrainingStandardsforPCAsAcrossStates.pdf 

Riesters MR, Ryskina KL, White EM, Hayes KN, Harris DA, Zullo AR. Approaches to identify nursing home specialists using Medicare claims data. Med Care. 2025;63(7):520–528. doi:10.1097/MLR.0000000000002161

Ryskina KL, Tian Y. Medicare’s patient-driven payment model for skilled nursing facilities—Getting what we pay for. JAMA Intern Med. 2025 Jul 21. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.2889

Scales K, Stepick L, King J. Making the Right Match: Evaluation of the Carina Matching Service Registry in Washington State’s Self-Directed Home Care Program. PHI and Carina. 2025. https://www.phinational.org/resource/making-the-right-match/

Stepick L, Kim J, McCall S, Scales K. The Union Effect for Direct Care Workers. PHI. 2025. https://www.phinational.org/resource/the-union-effect-for-direct-care-workers/



White EM, Wagner J, Stewart K, Guyer H, Nelson S, Chiong W, Muench U, Sideman AB, Gerlach L, Possin K, Pettit A, Rothstein J, Marcus SC, Spetz J, Maust DT. The National Dementia Workforce Study: Methods for Surveying Community Clinicians who Provide Care to People with Dementia. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2025 Aug 8. doi: 10.1111/jgs.70037

Woodward KF, Trotter L, Dill J, Frogner B. New opportunities or more of the same? Health industry entrants in the post-pandemic era. Med Care Res Rev. 2025;82(4):346–353. doi:10.1177/10775587251320684

Xu H, Bowblis JR, Li S, Heston-Mullins J, Kuo YF, Goodwin JS. Changes in federal and state policies on visitation restrictions in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Appl Gerontol. 2025 Mar 28;:7334648251324269. doi:10.1177/07334648251324269

Xu H, Bowblis JR, Li S, Kuo YF, Goodwin JS. Nursing home visitor policy and COVID-19 infection rates. Am J Infect Control. 2025 Jul 16. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2025.07.003

Xu H, Li S, Bowblis JR, Pappadis MR, Kuo Y, Goodwin JS. Medicaid payments and racial and ethnic disparities in Alzheimer disease special care units. JAMA Netw Open. 2025;8(8):e2525057. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.25057

Yeh J, Beld M, Pond B, et al. Competency-based training boosts dementia knowledge and skills in home care workers. Alzheimers Dement. 2025;21:e70323. doi:10.1002/alz.70323

Yeh J, Parks R, Liu PJ. Data-driven decision-making in adult protective services: Insights from the Identification, Services, and Outcomes (ISO) Matrix implementation. J Aging Soc Policy. 2025;1–17. doi:10.1080/08959420.2025.2528585

Kezia Scales, PhD, co-leader of the AWARD Network, was quoted in The American Prospect on the potential impact of mass deportations on the direct care workforce. She also contributed to a New York Times story on immigration and the long-term care workforce

Rachel Prusynski, DPT, PhD, NCS, was quoted in the Kitsap Sun on how recent immigrant policies may affect staffing shortages in Washington state.