Jung Kwak

Biography

Dr. Kwak received her PhD in Aging Studies from the University of South Florida and her MSW in Social Work from the University of South Carolina. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the National Academies of Practice in Social Work, a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, a Sojourns Scholar Leader, and a Health Care Systems (HCS) Scholar through the National Institute on Aging IMPACT Collaboratory.

Dr. Kwak’s research focuses on implementing and evaluating psychosocial interventions that support caregiving, improve care transitions, and enhance the well-being of persons living with dementia and their care partners. Her current research includes studying palliative care and outcomes among culturally diverse hospitalized dementia patients and their family caregivers, investigating the impact of training community health workers (CHWs) to provide care transition support for hospitalized dementia patients and their families, and examining the effects of innovative curricula designed to improve knowledge, skills, and competencies in health profession students related to best practices for caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.  Her research on dementia care and end-of-life decision-making has been featured in various news and media outlets including the Associated Press, USA Today, and Consider the Conversation, a documentary film about end-of-life care. 

Please visit the research lab site, http://gerontologylab.org/ , for more information on her program of research.