Key Staff: The Integrated Memory Care in Community

Dr. Clevenger is a nationally recognized educational leader in advanced practice nursing and in geriatrics and gerontology. She is a Past President of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association; and has Fellow status in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), the Gerontological Society of America, and the American Academy of Nursing. She is Clinical Director and practicing NP of the IMCC. She has proven commitment to the IMCC model, skills in directing this clinic to short-term successes, and institutional leadership in working toward feasibility and a business model to bring Emory’s IMCC solution to scale.

Dr. Clevenger’s scholarship includes models of care for people living with dementia, programs to build mastery for dementia family caregivers, and the geriatric nursing workforce.

Karla Schroeder DNP, RN, MHA, ANP-BC, NE-BC is Vice President of Patient Services and Chief Nursing Officer of Ambulatory Care at Emory Health Care in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Schroeder is also an instructor at California State University, Institute for Palliative Care where she teaches advanced practice palliative nurse practitioner certification courses. Additionally, Dr. Schroeder is national faculty on the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) project through City of Hope. She has 25 years of experience in the field of nursing focused in ED/Critical care, hospice/palliative care, and clinical leadership. She has used her nursing experience in the roles of clinician, consultant, author, teacher, and leader. Dr. Schroeder’s scholarship includes holistic care of the person, end-of-life care, dehumanization, harm avoidance, moral dilemma, caregiver stress, global health, staffing workload, care models, and financial implications of care.

As the program director for Integrated Memory Care, Ms. Medders helps to oversee clinic workflows, its national Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition, Age-Friendly Health System recognition, and developing and maintaining relationships with community partners. Ms. Medders has been working with the IMC program since its inception in 2015, for the first several years as the social worker and administrative manager. In the IMCiC expansion, she will also serve as supervisor to the DCA workforce.

Dr. Epps is an Assistant Professor in the Emory School of Nursing with 20 years of nursing experience. She is a 2018-2019 Tideswell Emerging Leaders in Aging Scholar. Dr. Epps is an active member of numerous professional organizations, including the Gerontological Society of America and the Southern Gerontological Society. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Southern Gerontological Society, Alzheimer's Association Georgia Chapter, and Meals on Wheels Atlanta. Dr. Epps also serves on the Leadership Core of the Public Health Center of Excellence in Dementia Caregiving at the University of Minnesota. In addition, Dr. Epps leads an outreach program, Alter, that works with African American churches and provides them with the tools and skills needed to support congregations and communities in matters of dementia and other chronic illnesses.

Dr. Epps will create and deliver the Dementia Care Assistant course in collaboration with Emory Nursing Experience. She will verify competency of the workforce through simulation and other relevant assessments. Dr. Epps will also collaborate on the individualized nursing career plans of this pre-nursing group.

A three-time recipient of the American Accounting Association’s Notable Contributions to Management Accounting Research Award and a winner of the 2020 Management Accounting Research David Solomons Prize, she brings a synthesis of business acumen and academic expertise that serves as a foundation for her commitment to the future of business education and business practice within the broader context of societal needs. She has expertise in cost analysis, operational quality assessment, and performance measurement, including, but not limited to, healthcare settings.

Dr. Sedatole will lead the evaluation of the direct reimbursement model and the recruitment, retention, and engagement of the workforce. She will combine and collate financial data to determine the IMCiC status in meeting its projected goals and strategize revisions to the model as needed. She will apply and design measures of engagement and satisfaction of the program staff.

Ms. Steiger, Assistant Dean for Clinical Practice Operations for Emory Nursing, has more than 17 years of healthcare operations experience and has proven expertise in managing large diverse teams and multi-million-dollar projects. As the Assistant Dean for Transformative Clinical Practice Operations, Ms. Steiger provides support for innovative nurse-led models of care led by the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing. This support includes developing, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive process for financial and human resources management, evaluation, and reporting.

Ms. Steiger oversees the budget reporting and staffing for the IMCiC as well as the IMC Clinic. She also directs the completion of the DCA certificate program and its hosting site, the Emory Nursing Experience learning platform, as well as facilitation of simulation at the Emory Nursing Learning Center.