Member Spotlight

Q&A with Elizabeth A. Hahn, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Brandeis University from Waltham, Massachusetts.

		"As a student, I also know that the fellow students and emerging scholars that I meet at GSA now through ESPO will be my colleagues as we all move forward and become the next generation of gerontologists."
Meet Elizabeth.

Q: How long have you been a member and how does GSA assist with your professional development? 
A: I became a member of GSA as an undergraduate at Pennsylvania State University when fellow GSA members, David Almeida, PhD and at the time, doctoral student, Kelly Cichy, PhD, introduced me to research in gerontology.  As a member of GSA, I have attended the meeting the past four years while I was in the doctoral program in Aging Studies at the University of South Florida. As a student, I had the opportunity to present paper, poster, and symposia presentations, network with colleagues through the Emerging Scholar and Professional Organization (ESPO) and other GSA activities. Last year while attending GSA I interviewed for and subsequently received an offer for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship position at Brandeis University with Margie Lachman, PhD.  In addition to participation in society events, I have held ESPO council positions, serving as the Chair of the ESPO Student Paper/Poster Award Committee and currently serving as the Secretary of ESPO. These positions have given me with an in-depth understanding of ESPO and GSA as well as provided me with the opportunity to help improve the organization and get to know my fellow GSA members.  All of these activities and opportunities have had an immeasurable impact on my career are directly a result of the great network of GSA and ESPO members. I consider GSA my “home” for sharing research, cultivating ideas, and learning from my colleagues as I begin my career as an independent researcher.  

Q: How did you get interested in the field of aging?
A: I became involved in aging after taking a course in human development as an undergraduate.  Most of my peers were of course interested in babies and children, and I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the other courses, careers options, and aging-related internships offered at Penn State. I interned at a nearby continuing care retirement community, took some great courses, and subsequently entered an Aging Studies doctoral program following my undergraduate education.  I have stayed in the field of aging because I think that there is no end to the things we can learn from aging adults and I believe that longitudinal studies can and do make a difference in our ability to live long, healthy, and productive lives.

Q: What are your key responsibilities at school?
A: I am currently in transition from completing a doctoral program in Aging Studies at the University of South Florida (USF) to beginning a position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Brandeis University.  As a student at USF, the program provided numerous challenges and opportunities to learn various aspects of teaching, research, and career development skills.  I had the opportunity to collect data for a small study examining stress, memory, and emotion in older adults with Mild Cognitive impairment, teach large, small, and online courses, present research at regional and national conferences, and learn from great mentors.  I am excited about my transition to Post-Doc working with Dr. Margie Lachman’s research as part of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) project at Brandeis.  In addition to learning from her and expanding my research skills, I will also have the opportunity to help train undergraduate and graduate students in research techniques as I work towards a career in academia.

Q: Why is it important for other individuals to join GSA? 
A: GSA and ESPO provide networks of colleagues that can provide mentorship, support, expertise, and guidance.  There are opportunities to meet and engage with colleagues who share your research interests, who are at similar stages in their career, or individuals who may be at a different stage in your career and can offer advice.  There have been many times when I have called on my peer colleagues, that I have met at GSA, for advice and networking.  As a student, I also know that the fellow students and emerging scholars that I meet at GSA now through ESPO will be my colleagues as we all move forward and become the next generation of gerontologists.  I thank my involvement in GSA and my experience as secretary of ESPO for helping me to realize the value of my colleagues and the value of conference attendance.

Q: Do you have any tips for emerging gerontologists?  
A: As an emerging scholar myself, I can give some advice and tips that I have received from others and learned from experience that has helped me get to the point where I am today.  There are a few words of wisdom that I live by and that I believe have helped me thus far.  Always have a “can-do” attitude---do not ever tell yourself you can’t do something when you have never tried it!  Grad school has a huge learning curve, and it is important to just keep working hard each day and trust the faculty and students around you who have faith that you can do it.  There is a reason you were accepted for the program you are in, it is because you are qualified and have the potential to succeed!   Another tough part of learning is getting feedback.  When I receive critical feedback, I try to remind myself that the reason someone is giving me feedback is because they think I can do better.  They see my potential, and if they didn’t think I could do it then they wouldn’t bother helping me!

Q: Tell us a little about your most recent activities/accomplishments?  
A: As a doctoral student, I have developed a great interest in research related to stress and cognitive decline.  In particular, I am interested in stress (daily stressors, memory failures, etc.) experienced as part of the early stages of cognitive decline.  I have collected and analyzed data, as part of my dissertation, using daily diaries to examine daily stressors, memory complaints, and daily affect in older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and a cognitively healthy comparison group.  In this project, I found that daily stressors were disproportionally associated with greater psychological distress in MCI participants as compared to cognitively healthy controls.  This type of research can inform interventions targeting the potential distress associated with daily life that may be beneficial for psychological well-being in persons with MCI.  I also worked with Ross Andel and other colleagues on a project, published in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society, to longitudinally examine work-related stress as a risk factor for dementia in the population-based Study of Dementia in Swedish Twins.  In our research, we found that having low control and low social support at work was associated with increased dementia risk, in particular vascular dementia.

Q: Have you had an important mentor in your career? If so, how did it make a difference? 
A: Mentors have made all of the different in the world for my career…I have been so fortunate to have so many great mentors in my career, who have contributed to many different aspects of my professional development. I believe they are the reason I am where I am today. As an undergraduate at Penn State, David Almeida and Kelly Cichy were invaluable to me as I learned to become excited about research and gerontology.  At USF, William Haley, my major advisor, helped me to develop a dissertation project I felt very passionate about and further nurtured my interest in research on older adults.  In addition, Ross Andel, Brent Small, Cathy McEvoy, Kathy Hyer, Chivon Mingo, Kali Thomas, and others have all helped me to learn statistics, career development, publishing, grant-writing, networking, and above all persistence, patience, and a passion for my research.  As I begin my career, I only hope that I serve as an equally great mentor for others.