2nd Conference on Caregiving Research

Building Bridges: Advancing Family Caregiving Research Across the Lifespan

On September 30 – October 1st, 2022, the RRTC on Family Support at the University of Pittsburgh hosted “Building Bridges – State of the Science on Family Caregiving Research”.

Attendees included 165 registrants from 24 States in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada, representing 72 researchers, 33 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, 25 administrators, program specialists or caregiving advocates; 12 educators, 14 clinicians or direct service providers, 2 consultants, and 2 family caregivers, and heard from 16 invited speakers; 2 family perspectives panels; and 11 featured abstract presenters.

The conference also included a funding panel with representatives from 5 agencies/foundations – NIDILRR, PCORI, NCI, John Hartford Foundation, and Alzheimer’s Association; a Policy panel with representatives from the RAISE Family Advisory Council, National Alliance for Caregiving, and RCI – Rosalyn Carter Institute.

Presented in 2 poster sessions, attendees could mingle and learn more from the 59 scientific abstracts presented.

To learn more, visit the conference program page to dowload the full program with information about sessions and speakers, download the full agenda of conference proceedings, or download the agenda-at-a-glance.

Keynote Speakers

We were joined by some of the foremost experts in caregiving research and policy. Learn more about our keynote speakers:

Kate Washington, PhD

Kate Washington, PhD, is the author of Already Toast: Caregiving and Burnout in America (Beacon Press, 2021), the story of Washington's struggle to care for her seriously ill husband. She speaks about the role of unpaid family caregivers in a society and on the systemic challenges they face. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, Eater, Catapult, and many other publications.

Joseph Gaugler, PhD

Joseph E. Gaugler, PhD, is Professor and Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care and Aging in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He directs the Center for Healthy Aging and Innovation as well as the Public Health Center of Excellence on Dementia Caregiving. His research interest include the longitudinal ramifications of family care for persons with dementia and other chronic conditions, and the effectiveness of home and community-based services for older adults with dementia and their caregiving families.

Senator Bob Casey

Senator Bob Casey is strong advocate for policies that will raise wages for the middle class and improve early learning opportunities and health care for children. Senator Casey serves on four committees, including the Finance Committee, the HELP Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence. He is also the Chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, where his agenda is focused on policies that support seniors and individuals with disabilities. Through his Committee work, Senator Casey continues to be the Senate’s leader on disability rights, leading a total of 19 disability policy bills in 2019 alone that covered education, health, employment, financial security, civil rights, disaster preparation and relief, veterans, and Social Security.  He was the prime Senate sponsor of landmark legislation for individuals with disabilities, the Stephen Beck Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE).  ABLE will allow millions of families across the United States to save for the long term care of their loved ones with a disability by using a tax-advantage savings account. As the Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Senator Casey has led Senate efforts to ensure that our Nation’s seniors have the resources and support they need in their older age.  Senator Casey’s Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act became law in July 2018 and created a federal advisory council charged with developing a one-stop-shop of information to help grandparents raising grandchildren and other kinship caregivers raising relative children address challenges that they may face.