Speaker

G. Allen Power, MD

G. Allen Power, MD is a board certified internist and geriatrician, and newly named Schlegel Chair in Aging and Dementia Innovation at the Schlegel—U. Waterloo Research Institute for Aging in Ontario, Canada. He is also clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester, New York, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians / American Society for Internal Medicine, and an international educator on transformational models of care for older adults, particularly those living with changing cognitive abilities.

Dr. Power’s second book, Dementia Beyond Disease: Enhancing Well-Being was released in June 2014 by Health Professions Press. His debut book, Dementia Beyond Drugs: Changing the Culture of Care won a 2010 Book of the Year Award from the American Journal of Nursing, a Merit Award from the 2011 National Mature Media Awards, and was listed as a “must-have” title in Doody’s Core Titles list for 2013. It was re-released in a second edition in October 2016. Dr. Power co-produced two DVDs with the late Dr. Richard Taylor and Brilliant Image Productions: Living with Dementia and 20 Questions, 100 Answers, 6 Perspectives. Dr. Power was named one of 2013’s “Five Leaders of Tomorrow” by Long-Term Living Magazine.

Dr. Power was a member of the Scientific Program Committee and a Keynote speaker for Alzheimer’s Disease International 2015, held in Perth, Western Australia. He was interviewed for the film Alive Inside, winner of the Audience Award for Best U.S. Documentary at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. His 2-day course, “Dementia Beyond Drugs” has been taught in fifteen states and six other countries. Dr. Power is also a Core Committee member of the newly formed Global Action on Personhood in Dementia, founded by Professor Dawn Brooker in U.K.

Dr. Power was awarded a Bellagio Residency in Italy in 2012 by the Rockefeller Foundation, where he worked with Dr. Emi Kiyota on developing guidelines for sustainable communities that embrace people of all ages and abilities. He is a consultant for Dr. Kiyota’s non-profit organization Ibasho, a member of the Leadership Council for the Dementia Action Alliance, and serves in an advisory capacity for the Music and Memory Project, Dementia Care Australia, and the South Africa Care Forum. With 20 years’ experience working in culture change in elder care, Dr. Power is a Certified Eden Alternative® Educator, and a member of the Eden Alternative board of directors. He also helped plan and open the only community-integrated Green House™ homes in the country, in Penfield, NY.

Dr. Power recorded introductory material for the CMS educational package, “Hand in Hand”, designed to help hands-on care professionals to better support people living with dementia. He served in an advisory capacity with CMS and worked with the Dementia Action Alliance to produce two white papers on new approaches to dementia for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. His “Dementia Beyond Drugs” seminar has been awarded several national and state grants to educate both nursing home staff and surveyors.

Dr. Power is a featured contributor to Eden Founder Dr. Bill Thomas’ weblog at www.changingaging.org. He has been interviewed by BBC Television, Australia’s ABC Radio Health Report, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Singapore’s Straits Times, WHYY radio, WXXI radio, many other publications and radio shows, and for the books Where Memories Go: Why Alzheimer’s Changes Everything, by BBC Glasgow journalist Sally Magnusson, and Old Age in a New Age: The Promise of Transformative Nursing Homes, by Beth Baker.

Dr. Power is also a trained musician and songwriter with three recordings, including Life Worth Living: A Celebration of Elders and Those Who Care for Them. His songs have been recorded by several artists and performed on three continents. Peter, Paul and Mary performed his song of elder autonomy, “If You Don’t Mind”, and Walter Cronkite used his song, “I’ll Love You Forever” in a 1995 Discovery Channel profile of American families.