Our Team
A multi-disciplinary team of experts, practitioners and innovators in elder justice, spanning research, medicine, law, social work, education, and systems design.
RISE is led by a team that combines decades of front-line practice, policy innovation, and academic expertise to test and replicate what works.
Our leadership includes the architect of the federal Elder Justice Act, a Canada Research Chair on Older Adult Mistreatment Prevention, nonprofit leaders, a practicing physician, a APS leader, and experts in running elder-justice programs on the ground. The same team that designed, adapts and tests RISE is also guiding its growth.
MT Connolly, JD
Co-founder & President
Elder Justice Collaborative · Author, The Measure of Our Age
MT works to make aging more joyful, gentle, and just. Her book, The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life, tells the story of the elder justice field revealing both longevity’s challenges and gifts can help us forge better long lives. MT was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship for her elder justice work. As founder the U.S. Department of Justice Elder Justice Initiative, she co-launched the first elder abuse research grant program and guided theory and strategy in federal cases involving fraud, abuse, and neglect by nursing home chains. MT conceived of and was lead architect of the Elder Justice Act, enacted with the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and was lead author of the Elder Justice Roadmap. Years of research for her book and work with the people she profiled, led to her codesign of RISE and continues to inform her work and life. (RISE’s origins are chronicled in The Measure of Our Age, especially in chapter 12.)
David Burnes, PhD
Co-founder & Director of Research & Evaluation
Professor, University of Toronto · Canada Research Chair on Older Adult Mistreatment Prevention
Dr. Burnes is a Professor at the University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. He holds a Canada Research Chair on Older Adult Mistreatment Prevention. He completed a PhD at Columbia University School of Social, concentrating in gerontology and advanced practice. Dr. Burnes’ program of research focuses on elder mistreatment, including the development of basic knowledge (risk factors, prevalence, severity) and the design, evaluation, and measurement of interventions to prevent and respond to elder mistreatment. He advises major international organizations on elder mistreatment, such as the World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health, as well as federal and regional governments. Dr. Burnes also works with non-profit organizations, such as state-level adult protective services programs, on the development, implementation and measurement of elder mistreatment response and prevention programs. His interest in elder mistreatment stems from both family experience and clinical practice with older adults.
Patricia F. Kimball, MS, MS
Co-founder & Senior Advisor on Systems Design
Executive Director, Elder Abuse Institute of Maine
Patricia Kimball is the Executive Director of the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine (EAIME), an organization she has been involved with for 20 years; first as a Board member in 2003 and then as the agency’s first Director in 2016. Prior to her current role, Patricia was the founding Executive Director the Restorative Justice Institute of Maine. Patricia has worked in the social services field for over 30 years and holds graduate degrees in Human Services Administration and Community Economic Development. As EAIME’s Executive Director, Patricia has led the agency’s involvement in the implementation of RISE in Maine in partnership with Maine Adult Protective Services. As part the agency’s mission to develop, implement, evaluate, and sustain novel interventions for older victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation, Patricia and her team are committed to maintaining and forwarding best practices in the field of elder mistreatment and continuing to explore new approaches to best meet the needs of older adults.
Stuart Lewis, MD, FACP
Co-founder & Chief Medical Officer & Senior Advisor, Data Analysis
Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth
Dr. Lewis is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Section of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Medical Director of Lebanon Center, a skilled nursing and long-term care facility. He is a member of New Hampshire’s Incapacitated and Vulnerable Adult Fatality Review Committee His primary research focus is on how to prevent the mistreatment or abuse of older adults for which he has received funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Administration for Community Living and other private foundations.
Dr. Lewis received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Columbia University and trained in internal medicine at Bellevue/ NYU. His writings on medicine have appeared in literary journals, The Guardian, The New York Review of Books, and others.
Geoff Rogers, BA
Co-founder & Senior Advisor on APS Engagement & Learning
Director of Learning & Development Projects, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College
Geoff Rogers is the Director of the Learning & Development Projects, Silberman School for Social Work, Hunter College. He has more than three decades of professional experience helping individuals and organizations learn, manage, change, and seize new opportunities. Prior to coming to Hunter in 2007, Geoff was Director of Operations for the New York City Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP). He has also worked in advertising, publishing, and marketing, and served as a director of special projects, director of training, and director of operations for New York City Adult Protective Services. Geoff’s unusual background spanning creative industries, public administration and management consulting informs his work at Silberman to develop learning opportunities that engage a diverse array of human services professionals. Geoff has a BA in European History and English from Colby College.
Polly Madson Cox, MSW
Lead Replication Coordinator
RISE Collaborative
Polly Madson Cox is the RISE Collaborative’s Lead Replication Coordinator, heading up training, technical assistance, and practice guidance. She assists staff and organizations at replication sites to design, develop and implement RISE consistent with its underlying philosophy, modalities, and evidence. She also guide’s RISE adaptation and expansion to health, housing, and victim service settings. Polly also coordinates closely with the RISE research and data collection teams to assure that the realities of practice remain central to research design, data collection, and implementation science. Polly’s work is informed by her prior work as a RISE Advocate, Supervisor and Program Director at the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine, where RISE was first launched. Polly has more than 25 years of experience in the social services field, with a strong focus on supporting older adults across a variety of settings. That work and seeing all phases of RISE, give Polly a unique capacity to support staff and programs that serve older adults experiencing or at risk for abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Moses Cook, JD, LLM
Chief Operations Officer
Moses Cook is a nonprofit executive, legal educator, and recovering attorney with over two decades of experience leading and managing organizations dedicated to social justice and the rights of underserved communities. His expertise spans nonprofit operations, fundraising and development, financial oversight, strategic planning, HR and operational policy, risk management, and building high-performing teams. On the weekends you’ll find him meandering through the forest trails of DC with his family and their dog. He holds a Juris Doctor from Washington University in St. Louis and an LL.M from Georgetown University School of Law.
Replication, Research, Data System & Operations Teams
The teams that advance RISE’s innovation, research, data collection, replication, and scaling include:
REPLICATION — Polly Madson Cox, MSW, Lead Replication Coordinator
- Roberta Peterson, MSG, MSPM, PMP — Replication & Data System Manager
- Jacinta Deschaine — Replication, Documentation and Fidelity Associate
RESEARCH & EVALUATION — David Burnes, PhD, Director of Research and Evaluation
- Stuart Lewis, MD, FACP— Chief Medical Officer and Senior Advisor, Data Analysis
- Kelly Marnfeldt, PhD— Post Doctoral Scholar
DATA SYSTEM COORDINATION — Patricia Kimball, MS, MS, Senior Advisor on System Design
- Roberta Peterson, MSG, MSPM, PMP — Data System Manager
OPERATIONS — Moses Cook, JD, Chief Operations and Development Officer
