Barak Gaster, MD, FACP

Barak Gaster, MD, FACP is a professor of medicine at the University of Washington where he serves as Director of the Cognition in Primary Care Program which designs training and tools to improve dementia care in the primary care setting. He has served on the leadership committee which guided the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Healthy Brain Roadmap and was also a member of a recent Hastings Center workgroup which explored bioethical issues related to dementia. He is a co-investigator at the University of Washington Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and is a governor-appointed member of the leadership council for the Washington Dementia Action Collaborative.

Joanne Pike, DrPH

Joanne Pike, DrPH, is president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, the global leader in Alzheimer's and dementia care, support and research. With her progressive experience in social support and public health, she is leading the organization during a transformational period. Novel treatments for people living with Alzheimer’s are emerging, and equitable access — as well as reaching all those affected with education and support — has never been more important. Since joining the Alzheimer’s Association in 2016, Dr. Pike has held several roles, highlighting her increasing leadership within the organization and the cause. As chief programs officer, she was responsible for overseeing care and support services offered to all those affected by the disease; outreach aimed at creating partnerships with health systems, physicians and other health care professionals; long-term care initiatives focused on person-centered care delivery models; and growth strategies to reach more individuals through quality improvement, education, and support programs and services. From 2020 to 2021, she served as chief strategy officer, directing the implementation of the strategic plan throughout all elements of the organization. In November 2021, Dr. Pike was named president, and in this role, guided the Association’s efforts to accelerate research; enhance care and support; advance public policy; strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion; increase concern and awareness; and grow revenue. Dr. Pike is also CEO of the Alzheimer’s Impact Movement (AIM), a separately incorporated advocacy affiliate working to advance and develop policies to overcome the disease. In September 2023, Dr. Pike was elected as vice chair of the World Dementia Council (WDC). Since its founding in 2013, the WDC has worked to find a cure or a disease-modifying treatment by 2025 and improve the lives of those impacted by Alzheimer's and other dementia. During her 25 years in public health, Dr. Pike developed and executed health-focused initiatives while implementing revenue strategies to support those measures. She has successfully leveraged public and system policy to advance public health outcomes with a particular emphasis on outreach to underrepresented and underserved communities. Prior to joining the Association, Dr. Pike spent 13 years in leadership positions at the American Cancer Society and three years as executive director of the Preventive Health Partnership, a collaboration among the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association aimed at preventing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Dr. Pike holds a doctorate in public health leadership focused on health policy and management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Rachel Whitmer, PhD

Rachel Whitmer, PhD, is a tenured Professor of Public Health Sciences and Neurology, Chief of the Division of Epidemiology at the University of California Davis (UC Davis) School of Medicine and Co-Director of the UC Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Professor Whitmer was the first female ‘Target of Excellence’ hire at UC Davis School of Medicine, a special hiring mechanism to recruit high impact scientists who are internationally renowned experts in their fields and will bridge needed gaps in the research mission of the university. Dr. Whitmer was hired to meld population science and epidemiology with the UC Davis Alzheimer’s disease research center and help the center expand into community-based sciences with a focus on groups historically underrepresented in research. Dr. Whitmer is Director of the Population Brain Health Lab (https://rachelwhitmer.ucdavis.edu) which uses lifecouse epidemiological methods to reduce inequities in brain aging; through study of dementia incidence, cognitive aging, and brain pathology in diverse racial/ethnic groups, those with diabetes, and the oldest-old. She is Principal Investigator of four National Institutes of Health funded cohort studies of dementia, cardiovascular health, and cognitive aging as well as US POINTER, a lifestyle multi-domain behavioral intervention clinical trial. Prior to joining UC Davis, Dr. Whitmer was a Senior Scientist and Director of the Population Cognitive Aging Lab at Kaiser Permanente Division of Research for 18 years where still holds an adjunct appointment. In her work leveraging electronic medical records for prediction models, she created the first 10-year diabetes specific risk score for dementia, validated a midlife dementia risk score, and was the first to identify midlife obesity/overweight, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and hypertension as long-term risk factors for all-cause dementia.

Sandra Fryhofer, MD

Sandra Adamson Fryhofer, MD, a board-certified physician of internal medicine, was elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2018 and served as its chair in 2022–23. A graduate of Emory University School of Medicine, where she is now an adjunct clinical associate professor of medicine, Dr. Fryhofer maintains a full-time general internal medicine practice in Atlanta. As a member of the AMA House of Delegates since 1999, Dr. Fryhofer has been active in the AMA for almost two decades. Twice elected to the AMA Council on Science and Public Health, including serving as its chair in 2012–2013, Dr. Fryhofer has also served as the council’s representative to the Commission to End Health Care Disparities and to the National Influenza Summit. For many years she has also served as the AMA liaison to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including on work groups for COVID-19, flu, zoster, HPV, cholera, pneumococcal, Tdap and polio vaccines, and the adult schedule. Dr. Fryhofer has chaired the AMA Convention Committee on Rules and Credentials and served on the AMA Select Committee. In her role as trustee, she has been appointed to the Scope of Practice Partnership and as board liaison to the AMA Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Issues, the AMA Minority Affairs Section, the AMA Council on Medical Service, the AMA Senior Physician Section, the AMA Council on Legislation, the AMA Resident and Fellow Section, and the AMA Young Physicians Section. In 2023 she became the first chair of the AMA’s Gun Violence Task Force. In addition to leadership roles at the AMA, Dr. Fryhofer served as president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), the world’s largest medical specialty society. When elected in 2000, she was the youngest person and only the second woman to hold that office in the ACP’s then 85-year history. She also served on the ACP Board of Regents and chaired its Committee on Women’s Health. Her work on behalf of internal medicine was rewarded with a mastership in ACP and a fellowship in Great Britain’s Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Fryhofer, who received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with high honors from Georgia Tech, has extensive experience in medical communications. She has testified before Congress and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on several occasions for the AMA and the ACP. A regular contributor to the AMA’s COVID Update/AMA Update video and podcast series, she has served as a national spokesperson for the ACP’s “Doctors for Adults” public education campaign, a medical correspondent for CNN Headline News, and a host of “Your Health Matters” on Georgia’s PBS affiliate. Dr. Fryhofer also wrote “Vital Signs,” a weekly column on the CNN website, in addition to a video editorial series called “Medicine Matters” and a viewpoint series entitled “Staying Well,” both of which appeared on WebMD’s Medscape.