(Re)designing the Continuum of Care for Older Adults The Future of Long-Term Care Settings

Farhana Ferdous, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at Howard University. She is an educator, designer, and scholar whose teaching and research career span the continents of South Asia, Australia, and North America. She continues to make symbiotic interconnections between design, practice, and research especially one which is focused on health, design, and marginalized African American or aging population. Her inclusive teaching style and evidence-based pedagogical philosophy integrate diversity and communities of color by making symbiotic interconnections between two facets of architecture: environment and design. As an environmental gerontologist, Dr. Ferdous has published widely on urban and environmental design and environmental psychology for the elderly. Her co-edited volume All-Inclusive Engagement in Architecture: Towards the Future of Social Change published by Routledge (2021) is a ground-breaking critical discourse focusing on the impact of social engagement in architecture. Her scholarship has been supported by several research grants including from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellowship (2013), Grantmakers in Aging (GIA) Fellowship (2013), Academy of Architecture for Health Foundation (2017), Toyota Individual Research Grant (2018), Graham Foundation Grant (2021), Alzheimer’s Association Research Grant (2021), Innovations in Pedagogy/Teaching Fellowship (2021), and National Endowment for Humanities Fellowship (2022).

Emily Roberts, PhD is an Associate Professor of Interior Design at Oklahoma State University and has a research focus in Environmental Gerontology, the study of the person-environment fit between older adults and the physical environment. She holds a Ph.D. in Architectural Studies and a Master’s degree in Gerontology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She previously attained a Masters of Architecture from the University of New Mexico. As an Environmental Gerontologist, Dr. Roberts has studied the factors involved in aging in place, as well as evolving models of long-term care, particularly for older adults with dementia and their families. Dr. Roberts has conducted research in the United States, Europe and Canada, focusing on government funded community-based long-term care programs. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Aging and Environment and Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision and Financing and serves as the Environmental Gerontology network chair for the Environmental Design Research Association.