About Us
Project Team
Sandy Atkins, MPA, Project Director/Associate Director Partners in Care Foundation
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Sandy Atkins has 25 years of experience planning and providing services to older adults. Prior to joining Partners in Care's evidence-based practice team, Sandy served as executive director of Hospice in Pasadena. At the USC Andrus Gerontology Center, she directed the Center for Long Term Care Integration, a state-funded effort to analyze Medicare and Medi-Cal data and provide technical assistance to counties pursuing the integration of their health and long term care systems for the dually eligible aged, blind and disabled population. Sandy also directed the STARS Minnesota Rural Elder Services Community Initiative, cosponsored by the University of Minnesota and Ebenezer Social Ministries. Before that, she was administrator of several California continuing care retirement communities. Sandy has an MPA in Long Term Care Administration, with a Certificate in Gerontology, from the University of Arizona, and a BA in Spanish from SUNY Buffalo.
M. Iya Kahramanian, MPH, Project Manager
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M. Iya Kahramanian is an epidemiologist who has worked in health research for six years. Her public health interest began as a student at UC Santa Barbara where she was studying various parasitic infections of Third World countries. In 2002, she graduated with an MPH focusing on epidemiology and biostatistics, from the University of Southern California. Upon graduation from USC she started to work as a research analyst at the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture, UCLA School of Medicine, where she gained valuable insight into the many strengths of the Latino culture. Her publications and reports appear in the Annual Review of Public Health, Journal of Dental Education, California Endowment reports and the Center’s website. She plays a significant role in the MMIS intervention by enhancing the computerized medication assessment screening tool, participating in strategic planning and assuring data compliance, project fidelity and quality assurance with participating sites.
Marsha Meyer, PharmD, CGP, FASCP, Consultant Pharmacist
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Marsha Meyer is a senior care pharmacist providing direct community-based medication management services through her independent practice, as well as through her role as a consultant pharmacist to several older adult health programs. She serves as a consultant on geriatric pharmacotherapy issues to a number of older adult initiatives and is a frequent lecturer on this topic. In addition to her senior care practice, Marsha also serves as course editor for a national online geriatric pharmacology course. Since her graduation with a BS in pharmacy from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Marsha has practiced in a number of different clinical settings, focusing on the needs of the older adult. She received her Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy in 2005, a graduate certificate in Geriatric Care Management from the University of Florida in 2007 and her PharmD from Rio Grande School of Pharmacy in Albuquerque, NM
Elaine Der, PharmD, Consultant Pharmacist
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Dr. Der is a clinical and consultant pharmacist with Partners in Care Foundation, applying pharmacy practice research into community practice through its Medications Management Project. She continues to work other arenas of pharmacy, including clinic, hospital, and retail. She is actively involved with community education programs concerning older adults and pharmaceuticals. She received her Doctorate of Pharmacy from the University of Southern California in 1994, after which she completed a Geriatric Pharmacy Practice Residency. She then completed a fellowship in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy at USC and the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer's Disease.
W. June Simmons, President/CEO Partners in Care Foundation
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June Simmons, MSW, LCSW is nationally recognized for her leadership in the administration of health care organizations and her role in developing innovative approaches to health care delivery. As President/CEO of the non-profit Partners In Care Foundation, she takes an active role in developing initiatives and pro-active programs which meet the mutual needs of patient populations and health care delivery networks to encourage cost-effective, patient-friendly integration of care from hospital to home. June is a recent winner of the Purpose Prize and serves on major national and local committees, panels and technical advisory boards including: California Healthcare Foundation - Managed Care and the Elderly, The John A. Hartford Foundation, Kaiser Permanente of Southern California, The Robert Wood Johnson HMO Care Management Workgroup, American Society on Aging National Board, Board of Councilors/Social Work and Alumni Board of Governors/USC.
Project Collaborators
- LA City Department on Aging, an Area Agency on Aging (AAA)
- LA County AAA
- University of Southern California, Schools of Pharmacy and Gerontology
- The MultiPurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP) in California
- Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, CA.
- Senior Care Action Network (SCAN) Independence at Home
- AltaMed Health Services Corporation
Advisory Panel
- Norman Chien, MD, Medical Director of Huntington Hospital Geriatric Assessment Program
- Alison Moore, MD, University of California Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine
- Bradley Williams, PharmD, University of Southern California School of Pharmacy
- Dennee Frey, PharmD, Consultant Pharmacist, Former MMIS Project Director
Lead Agency
Partners in Care Foundation assists health care providers and community-based organizations to create, implement, and evaluate new ways of delivering care. Partners serves as a catalyst to help shape a new version of care by partnering with organizations, families, and community leaders. Partners will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the project including coordinating outreach, scheduling, planning and delivery of services, data tracking, training oversight of students, and financial management.
Funders
Administration on Aging (AoA)
The Administration on Aging (AoA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is the Federal focal point and advocate agency for older persons and their concerns. AoA awarded grants totaling over $2 million to 12 federal agencies and private foundations as part of a public/private partnership to increase access for older people to programs that have been proven to be effective in reducing the risk of disease, injury, and disability. Partners in Care Foundation is one of the twelve grantees and the only medication management program to receive funding. This funding will be used to implement an evidence-based Medications Management Model in community based care management services.
John A. Hartford Foundation
Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is a committed champion of training, research and service system innovations that promote the health and independence of America’s older adults. Through its grantmaking, the Foundation seeks to strengthen the nation’s capacity to provide effective, affordable care to this rapidly increasing older population by educating “aging-prepared” health professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers), and developing innovations that improve and better integrate health and supportive services. The Foundation was established by John A. Hartford. Mr. Hartford and his brother, George L. Hartford, both former chief executives of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, left the bulk of their estates to the Foundation upon their deaths in the 1950s. Additional information about the Foundation and it programs is available at www.jhartfound.org.