Caring for Those Who Care: Centering Diverse Family Caregivers

Susan is the Senior Director for NCOA’s Research and Evaluation (R&E) Group. She manages all NCOA research to ensure its standards and quality. She leads Social Impact methodology, as well as building out the R&E group across NCOA, so research findings are incorporated and leveraged in all of our work. The R&E group supports NCOA programs with contracted research and evaluation, conducts research using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to create the economic security and poverty index, and  responds to enterprise-wide requests for research, evaluation, and data insights.

Susan is a trusted advisor on strategy and policy with a focus on health and education policy and vulnerable populations. She has experience with quantitative and qualitive data analysis and project management. She is a certified focus group moderator, facilitates conversations with stakeholders, and conducts in-depth interviews with C Level executives.

Susan spent 10 years working at AARP, in the State Research Division conducting member and public opinion polling on issues and priorities for those age 50+. At the national level, she contributed to the Divided We Fail campaign, Medicare Part D positioning, efforts to prevent the privatization of Social Security, AARP segmentation research for African Americans, and contributed to AARP brand research. She also served as the Interim State Director at AARP Iowa in 2007 and 2008, as well as AARP South Dakota in 2005. She advocated with state legislators, governors, and stakeholders to bring attention to older adult issues and priorities, including testifying at public hearings. 

More recently, she spent 6 years as Vice President at Kauffman and Associates Inc, a small professional services firm with a focus on health and education policy for Native American and Indigenous people. In this role, Susan worked with federal agencies including Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Education, National Science Foundation, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Department of Interior, Indian Health Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Department of Justice, as well as states, tribes, and philanthropic organizations.

Susan is a political economist with a master’s degree in International Economic Development from American University and a doctoral degree in Political Science from Michigan State University, with a focus on research methods and health policy.

Nina Darby (she/her) is the Training Manager at the Diverse Elders Coalition (DEC). Prior to joining the DEC, Nina delivered trauma-informed and culturally responsive programming as a direct service provider and program manager in community-based non-profits in Boston. With ten years of training experience, Nina has trained healthcare and social service providers, law enforcement, housing providers, court personnel, city employees and domestic violence advocates on how to best support and meaningfully collaborate with individuals and communities who hold diverse identities. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Gender and Peacebuilding from the United Nations mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Services from Northeastern University.