Presents:
The New Age of Elder Care
Advances in Technology and Mental Health in an Aging Society
Register For the Webinar Here
An increase in life expectancy and a decrease in birth rates are leading populations around the world towards an aging society. According to the Urban Institute, there are over 54 million Americans today that are age 65 and older. By 2040, this number will increase to 80 million. In this webinar, we explore how to live a long and healthy life by focusing on the latest AI technology and psychosocial care methods that can physically and mentally empower the older adult population. On the technology side, we hear from two experts from Japan, a nation with the highest proportion of aging citizens of any country in the world: Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai the developer of the world’s first wearable cyborg HAL and Dr. Takanori Shibata, the inventor of PARO, the therapeutic seal robot. On the mental health side, psychotherapist and Geriatric Medical Social Worker Mrs. Shiori Lange, LCSW will discuss how psychosocial approaches can help older adults and their loved ones. UCLA Associate Professor Lené Levy-Storms Ph.D. will be moderating the panel of three speakers.
Speaker Profiles
Shiori Lange, LCSW
Psychotherapist
and Geriatric Medical Social Worker
Shiori Lange was born and raised in
Saga, Japan. She came to the U.S in 1999. Shiori obtained her Bachelor's degree
in Family Studies and Human Development from University of Arizona and obtained
her Master's degree in Social Work from California State University, Long
Beach. In the past, Shiori provided geriatric case management/consultation,
mental health counseling, community support groups and served as a Geriatric
Social Work Education Consortium field education supervisor for MSW/BSW
students through NPO and public agency. During the day, Shiori currently
works as a full-time Geriatric Medical Social Worker at a Health Care
Center in Seal Beach providing psychosocial assistance (Post Acute Care, Behavioral
Health, Palliative Care, Support groups) for individuals over 55+ and their
families. During the evening and weekend, she works as an Employee Assistance
Program counselor and also sees her private practice clients for
psychotherapy and geriatric care consultation. Shiori specializes in Older
adults, Caregiving, Dementia Care, Mental Health, Grief and Mindfulness.
Yoshiyuki Sankai, Ph.D.
President and CEO,
CYBERDYNE, INC.
Yoshiyuki Sankai
earned a Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Tsukuba in Japan in 1987.
He has progressed from being a research fellow at the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (“JSPS”) to assistant professor, associate professor, and
then professor at the Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering,
University of Tsukuba. Dr. Sankai is also a visiting professor at Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston, Texas in the United States. Currently, he is a
professor, Executive Research Director at the Center for Cybernics Research and
Director at the R&D Center for Frontiers of MIRAI in Policy and Technology
and University of Tsukuba; and the President and CEO of CYBERDYNE, INC..
His
achievements include the development of HAL, the world’s first “Wearable
Cyborg” that promotes functional improvement/regeneration of the brain, nerve,
and physical systems, from basic research on its motion principle through
prototype testing, evaluation, and real-world implementation. In addition to
Medical HAL, he continues to advance the development and application of various
Cybernic systems (Vital Sensor, Precision Medicine, Human Big Data aggregation,
AI analytics and statistical computing with super computers, other Cybernic
robots) and is working toward the realization of a social and industrial
visions known as “ZERO Burdening-Care Society” and “Society 5.0/5.1”
In
an effort to use his research results for the benefit of society, in June 2004,
Dr. Sankai founded CYBERDYNE, INC.; a company designed to pioneer the future by
developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative Cybernic systems and
services in the fields of medicine, welfare, labor, production, and life. In
March 2014, the company was listed in the “Mothers” section of the Tokyo Stock
Exchange, as the first company to issue class shares in Japan. In addition, due
to its distinctive advanced technology and growth probability, the company was
awarded FY2013’s ”IPO of the Year” and FY2014’s “Innovative Equity Deal of the
Year” by Thomson Reuters Market, becoming the first company ever to receive an
award two years in a row. Now, Dr. Sankai is acting as a core member of the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Smart City
Project/Tsukuba Promotion Council, as well as a founding core member of the
Tsukuba Conference.
Takanori Shibata Ph.D.
Chief Senior Research Scientist,
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Prof.
Takanori Shibata was born in 1967 and received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in
Electronic and Mechanical Engineering from Nagoya University in 89, 91 and 92, respectively.
He was a research scientist at AIST from 93 to 98. Concurrently, he was a
visiting research scientist at the Artificial Intelligence Lab., Massachusetts
Institute of Technology from 95 to 98, and a visiting research scientist at the
Artificial Intelligence Lab., Univ. of Zurich in 96. At the AIST, Dr. Shibata
was a senior research scientist from 98 to 13. Concurrently, he was the Deputy
Director for Information and Communication Technology Policy, Bureau of
Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
in 2009 and 2010. Since 2013, he has been the current positions. His research
interests include human-robot interaction, robot therapy, mental health for
astronauts in long-term missions (e.g. to Mars), and humanitarian de-mining. He
was certified as the inventor of a seal robot named PARO, the World’s Most
Therapeutic Robot, by Guinness World Records in 2002. He has received many
awards including the Japanese Prime Minister’s Award in 2003, The Outstanding
Young Person (TOYP) of the world by Junior Chamber International (JCI) in 2004,
and the Robot of the Year by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan
in 2006. In 2015, PARO was awarded the “Patient Trophy” as innovation of
non-pharmacological therapy for dementia by the AP-HP (Assistance Publique -
Hôpitaux de Paris), France, that is one of the largest medical groups in the
World. In 2017, PARO was awarded the “Best of the Best” by the Argentum
(organization of senior living communities) in the US. In 2018, Dr. Shibata was
awarded the “Ryman Prize” that is the most prestigious award in the fields of
geriatric medicine, welfare and health. In 2019, he had an invited talk at a
symposium on “AI for Older Persons” at the headquarters of United Nation in NY.
Lené Levy-Storms
Associate Professor,
Department of Social Welfare and Medicine/Geriatrics
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Lené Levy-Storms is
an Associate Professor in the Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of
Social Welfare and the Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Medicine,
Division of Geriatrics at UCLA. Dr. Levy-Storms’ primary research has focused
on communication as a mechanism for social support and caregiving for older
adults, especially those living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Since 2016, she
has served as the academic representative on the California State Alzheimer’s
Advisory Committee. Since 2004, she has partnered with Susan Kohler, a speech
and language therapist and author of a book titled: “How to Communicate with Alzheimer’s”, to develop a behavioral
training program for both family and non-family caregivers based on her book.
They have produced a DVD series of peer-based, unscripted training modules on
communication and an accompanying curriculum titled, “Get Connected”. With their innovation and UCLA’s Office of
Intellectual Property’s agreement, Dr. Levy-Storms and Ms. Kohler started Connected Hearts, LLC in 2014 to promote
their training programs outside of research. With funding from the National
Institute on Aging, the Hartford Foundation, the American Medical Director’s
Association, and the National Alzheimer’s Association, Dr. Levy-Storms
developed methods of evaluating caregivers’ communication behaviors and has
been using these methods to test “Get
Connected” among a variety of caregivers and long-term care settings. She
completed a pilot study, funded by the Archstone Foundation, in which both
family and non-family caregivers participated in communication training
simultaneously. In December, 2020, the UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute funded
Dr. Levy-Storms to implement a translational version of Connected Hearts’ training modules. Dr. Levy-Storms also does
research on policies related to caregiver training and was a Health and Aging
Policy Fellow from 2010-2014 in a program funded by the The John A. Hartford Foundation, West Health, and
The Atlantic Philanthropies (https://www.healthandagingpolicy.org/). Also, 2020, she received additional
internal funding from UCLA to continue her policy work in association with the
UCLA Health Policy Research Center.
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