The Community Innovators Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has appointed Marc Cohen, PhD, to its two-year Mel King Community Fellows Program. Cohen is a professor of gerontology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, and research director at the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation at Community Catalyst. The MIT fellowship program brings together recognized policy and advocacy leaders from across the country to strengthen the link between practice-based, on-the-ground knowledge and academic research.
The 2022-2023 class of Mel King Fellows will focus on centering equity in long-term care. Cohen joins the group as an expert in state and federal initiatives for financing long-term care. Before joining UMass Boston in 2016, he served as chief research and development officer, former president, and co-founder of LifePlans, Inc., a long-term care research and risk-management company. Throughout his career, Cohen has led major research studies related to the financing and delivery of long-term services and supports.
“Fellows focus on exploring emerging issues in cities at the local level, investigating longstanding debates about deepening democracy and improving their understanding of the connections between economic justice and democracy – economic democracy,” the fellowship website states. “The Centering Equity in Long-Term Care Class of the Mel King Community Fellowship Program seeks to envision and actualize a long-term services and support system that builds wealth for care workers and preserves wealth for those who need care and their families.”
Read more about the Mel King Fellows
“I look forward to joining these conversations and considering innovative strategies, both nationally and internationally,” Cohen says. “The hope is that we can provide policy makers with information and ideas to take back to their states.”
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