Ms. Patricia J. Volland is the Senior Vice President for Strategy and Business Development at The New York Academy of Medicine. She was tapped for this role after serving for 13 years as the Senior Vice President for Administration and Finance. She is also the Director of the Social Work Leadership Institute. The Social Work Leadership Institute (SWLI) is a national initiative working to ensure that America’s older adults receive the care they need to remain in charge of their lives and live life to the fullest. Ms Volland is leading national education, policy and research efforts to advance our society's ability to support and care for older adults in a productive and coordinated manner. These efforts include educational initiatives to create social work leaders to work with older adults, and developing and implementing policies that benefit people in the third stage of their lives, 60+. She is focusing much of her work on developing effective comprehensive care coordination services - linking health/medicine with psychosocial/long term care - that are so important for older adults with chronic diseases.

Ms. Volland launched the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education in 2000. This education model has been adopted by 75 graduate schools of social work in 35 states. The model is field based and increases student’s competencies in working with older adults. This educational model has been so successful in training future social work leaders to work with older adults, that it is currently spreading to all graduate schools of social work with leadership provided by Ms. Volland and her staff.

In 2008, in partnership with the American Society on Aging, she formed the National Coalition on Care Coordination (N3C). The purpose of N3C is to build consensus among stakeholder organizations and to advocate for enactment of public policies that support care coordination effectively linking health/medicine and psychosocial and long-term care on behalf of vulnerable populations – with particular focus on older adults. The member organizations of the coalition include experts in aging, medicine and health, nursing, social services, long-term care, community-based services, family caregivers and older adults. The result of these efforts has included incorporation of care coordination extensively in the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Ms. Volland serves on boards: The American Society on Aging, the Altman Foundation – a New York City based institution that lends support to programs that serve community populations, in particular the vulnerable and the disadvantageand Planned Parenthood of New York City. She is the former Chairman of the Board of Planned Parenthood of New York City, where she placed a special emphasis on effective advocacy to ensure access to health and reproductive services for women who wish to make responsible and independent decisions about their lives.

Prior to joining The New York Academy of Medicine, Ms. Volland spent 25 years as a hospital administrator. She has held administrative and clinical social work positions at several academic medical centers, including fifteen years at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. She has served as National President and Board Member of the Society for Social Work Administrators in Health Care.

Ms. Volland is a recipient of numerous awards, which include the Distinguished Alumni award of the School of Social Work - San Diego University - 1977, Ida M. Cannon Award for Distinguished Leadership – Society of Social Work Administrators in Health Care, 1983, President’s Award – Women in Health Management, 2005, and Lifetime Achievement Award – National Association of Social Work, New York City Chapter, 2010.

She is a Fellow of The New York Academy of Medicine, and has edited and published in numerous scholarly journals and books. She is expert in issues of aging, workforce development and ageing, social work, and women's health issues. She has an MBA from Loyola College, MSW from San Diego State University and a BA in Sociology from Ottawa University.

She is a recipient of major grant support for developing health and aging services and serves on a number of national advisory groups focused on transforming the long term care system and on improving services to older adults. She is a member of numerous professional organizations and serves on the editorial board of the Journal Social Work in Health Care.

Ruth Finkelstein, ScD is currently the Director of the Division of Health Policy, a multi-disciplinary group of experts in anthropology, sociology, urban planning, public health and social work at the New York Academy of Medicine. Trained in health policy, Dr. Finkelstein has over twenty years experience working in the policy and advocacy arenas to remove barriers to health care access for vulnerable populations. Dr. Finkelstein is a leader in research and evaluation on HIV/AIDS and substance abuse treatment programs, as well as an expert in state and federal health care financing as well as private insurance.

In New York State, she was a leader in successful efforts to adopt community rating and open enrollment in the small group market, as well as other insurance reforms to facilitate access to comprehensive benefits. One of the architects of the original Ryan White CARE Act, Dr. Finkelstein has authored policy studies that have influenced changes during each reauthorization cycle. Her most recent study analyzed the relationship between each state's health care financing environment and their allocations of CARE Act funds. In addition, through Dr. Finkelstein's leadership, the NYAM is now spearheading programs to improve care and services for immigrant populations and the needs of the urban elderly.

Jennifer Torres is the Research Policy Associate at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute. Ms. Torres contributes to research and strategy to advance SWLI's advocacy efforts and legislative objectives, including federal policy initiatives on comprehensive care coordination legislation affecting older adults.

Before joining SWLI, Ms. Torres spent four years as a Legislative Aide for the Office of Congressman Ed Pastor, where she worked on various issues around immigration, health care, and aging. Ms. Torres also served as an intern for the United Nations Children Fund developing lessons learned for various country office projects, and as a case manager for a clinic in the Bronx assisting with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security enrollment.

Ms. Torres holds a Master of Science in social work from Columbia University and a Master of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Emma Barker is the Associate Program Officer at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute where she supports the Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education and other projects to strengthen the social work workforce in the field of aging.

Prior to joining SWLI Ms. Barker worked for the last 14 years as a community organizer, teacher, trainer, and outreach coordinator for a variety of New York-based community groups. Additionally, she also worked in a New York City Council office where she performed constituent services, with an emphasis on the older adult population.

Ms. Barker earned her Masters of Social Work from Hunter College and her Masters in Fine Arts from Manchester Metropolitan University, England, where she originally hails.

Kadia Darby is the Administrative Assistant for The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute. She coordinates department meetings and conferences and assists in the production of department projects. She holds a Bachelor of Science in community health from Hunter College.

Joseph Shuluk is a Project Assistant at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute. He assists with research for SWLI's Evidence Database, an online resource of published articles on aging care workforce and long-term care coordination issues and providing general research support on all of SWLI's projects.

Before joining SWLI, Mr. Shuluk was a research assistant at Rockefeller University's Leibowitz Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology where he studied the neurobiological actions of eating behavior and alcohol consumption along with the mechanisms by which they relate to obesity and addiction. He holds a bachelor's degree in sociology and political science from the Thomas Hunter Honors Program at Hunter College.

Liz Wright is a Program Associate and Executive Assistant at the New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute. Her background is in administration, research and writing for health and social service related enterprises. Previously, Ms. Wright worked for six years in the production and rehearsal departments of the Metropolitan Opera. She is a graduate of Barnard College with a major in English literature, and has recently begun working part- time towards a master's degree in biochemistry at Hunter College following post-baccalaureate pre-medical studies at City College.

Jarmin Yeh is a Program Strategy Associate at The New York Academy of Medicine's Social Work Leadership Institute where she promotes the Hartford Partnership Program on Aging Education, a national educational initiative cultivating student leadership in the field of social work with older adults, and other SWLI initiatives.

Before joining SWLI, Ms. Yeh was a research associate at the Ford Foundation and Projects for Public Spaces, examining the impact farmers markets have on community health. She has also worked at the California State Assembly. Ms. Yeh holds a Master of Public Health and a Master of Science in social work from Columbia University. She holds a bachelor's degree in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley.