EmergingAging NYC Leadership
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ALLISON COOK, Chief Strategiest
​Allison was originally drawn to the field of aging due to her experience in helping care for her grandparents and her volunteer work in nursing homes. While in college, she worked as a home health aide, which has greatly informed her understanding of the field of aging. These experiences motivated her to graduate with her Master of Public Health, with a focus on aging and policy, from Brown University. She then worked as an Education Associate at the Medicare Rights Center, where she distilled complicated Medicare information in educational programming and materials. She currently works as a New York Policy Associate at PHI, where she works to improve long term care by focusing on direct care workers, such as home health aides. She has been involved with Emerging Aging since 2012.​​

JOELLE LICHTMAN, Communications Coordinator
Joelle is a design consultant who creates environments to enhance user comfort, health and safety for older adults.  She has extensive experience performing home safety consultations for older adults in New York City, and providing them with simple and affordable solutions to create safer home environments.  Joelle often speaks on the topic of maintaining a safe home environment, previously at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the New York Public Library.  Joelle holds a Master of Arts in Interior Design and a Gerontology Certificate from Cornell University.  She is a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist, LEED Accredited Professional and is a member of the American Institute of Architects Design for Aging Committee.  ​

ILANA MITTLEMAN, Secretary
Ilana first became interested in working with older adults during high school while volunteering with her dog at a pet therapy program in a nursing home.  Since then, she’s had a variety of experiences ranging from research on intergenerational programs to coordinating a capella concerts at an assisted living residence. She graduated from Brandeis University in 2014 with a BA in Health: Science, Society & Policy. Currently, she works at JASA, a nonprofit agency serving seniors in the New York metropolitan area. Ilana coordinates volunteers throughout JASA’s programs and locations.  She also assists with JASA’s advocacy program for seniors, facilitating trainings and workshops on civic affairs and social action. ​

KRISTEN CRIBBS, External Relations Coordinator 
Kristen is pursuing her Doctor of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Her current research focuses on how hospital nursing culture impacts the quality of care older adults receive. Previously, she served as deputy director of educational services at the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, a national nonprofit organization headquartered in NYC, where she managed the Foundation’s professional training and education initiatives and was involved in capacity-building and outreach. She has also worked on a national Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initiative to standardize palliative care practice across VA inpatient care settings and on the development and implementation of programs for the Age-friendly NYC Initiative, part of the World Health Organization’s Global Age-friendly Cities Project. She received her Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in Aging and Health, from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and is deeply committed to improving the health and well-being of older adults.