Optimizing Brain Fitness:  Research to Practice

Date:   Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Time:   8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Location:   Carle Forum, 611 East Park Street, Urbana

This one day intensive will feature speakers that will present and discuss salient topics to optimize brain fitness.  Topics to be presented will be anchored in evidence-based research and focus on practical, effective applications that enhance and optimize brain fitness.

Upon completion of this program, you should be able to:

• Identify evidenced-based research that enhances and optimizes brain fitness
• Distinguish successful and effective methods and techniques to enhance and optimize brain fitness
• Apply selectively effective practical applications that will enhance and optimize brain fitness

Faculty:

Grace Frantilla, ATR-BC, LCPC, is a Board-Certified Art Therapist and Clinical Counselor. She received her Masters of Art Therapy Degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has worked with clients of all ages and backgrounds in various settings for over ten years, including within outpatient clinics, inpatient adult psychiatric units, early intervention, senior citizen programs, and art studios. She has specialized training in Trauma-Informed Art Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and taught Art Therapy at Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts from 2000-2007. Ms. Frantilla has been actively involved in the American Art Therapy Association and has served in varying board member positions in Art Therapy associations in New England, Ohio and Illinois.

William Gingold, PhD, MHA, CSA, CHE, OMPH, is a Psychologist, gerontologist, Certified-senior Advisor, and Certified Health-care Executive with extensive experience as a clinician, Teacher/Trainer, Researcher, Published Author, and Health Services and Hospital Administrator. He is a recognized authority on functional geriatric screening and assessment and leader in the geriatric field, having presented at State, National, and International Conferences and Programs over the past 30 years. Dr. Gingold continues to be a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of Family Medicine Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and collaborates with institutions to bring current and practical engaging programs and services to communities. He is also founder and CEO of Dr. G’s BrainWorks.

Kate Kuper, BA, MFA, is a teaching artist and dance educator. Ms. Kuper has extensive training and experience in teaching dance and movement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, through the Illinois Arts Council, and in private practice. In addition to providing workshops to a broad array of audiences, she has produced a large number of educational products for music, dance and movement complemented by a number of publications. Furthermore, she has also choreographed and performed dance and movement events. In recognition of her success, she has received numerous awards, grants, and honors for her achievements.

Daniel Llano, MD, PhD, is a neurologist with Carle Hospital with a specialization in cognitive and behavioral neurology and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. In addition, he is also an Assistant Professor and full-time faculty member of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the Beckman Institute for Advanced science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Llano has received numerous awards and honors for his teaching, research, and writings and has more than two dozen publications coupled with numerous state and national presentations.

Cindy Ropp, BA, MMEd, EdD, BC-MT, is Director and Associate Professor of Music Therapy at Illinois State University. She has extensive training and experience in music therapy and in working effectively with special needs populations across a broad spectrum of programs and services. She is a published author and recipient of numerous grants and recognition awards and honors for her teaching, performance and leadership in the field of music therapy.

Max Zubatsky, PhD, LMFT, is a licensed marriage and family therapist and an Assistant Professor in Family and Community Medicine at Saint Louis University. He also serves as the clinical supervisor of the doctoral program in Medical Family Therapy. Dr. Zubatsky earned his PhD in Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota and a post-doctorate degree at the University of Chicago-Chicago Center for Family Health. He has over five years of clinical experience working in primary care and memory clinics with patients and families suffering from Alzheimer’s and Dementia-Related Disorders. His research interests include chronic illness in families, caregiving, cognitive stimulation therapy in Alzheimer’s disease, community health, and hoarding disorder. Dr. Zubatsky is currently conducting research on early caregivers of Alzheimer’s disease and different types of family services delivered around the disease. He is also a current board member and Director of Research for The Hoarding Project. Interested in the Clinical and research outcomes around Hoarding Disorder and the aging population.

Conflict of Interest Policy Statement:   Faculty participating in this program are expected to disclose to the program audience any real or apparent conflict(s) or unlabeled use related to the content of their presentations.