About Us

IFAS History and Mission

Founded in 1999 by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) under the leadership of Drs. Robyn Stone and Susan Reinhard, the Institute for the Future of Aging Services (IFAS) was created to bring together the worlds of research, policy and practice to enhance the quality of life of older adults as they age and strengthen the workforce that provides much of their care. IFAS carries out its mission by: developing an evidence base so that policy makers and service providers know what works; helping providers to successfully adopt evidence- based models of care and clinical and workforce improvement practices; and analyzing how state and federal policy and regulation impact aging and long-term care service providers.

How We Work

IFAS is uniquely positioned to carryout its mission. As the applied research institute of AAHSA, the IFAS network includes more than 5,800 non-profit senior housing communities, nursing and assisted living facilities and aging services organizations located in every part of the country. Partnering with outstanding academic researchers from the fields of gerontology, medicine, nursing, workforce development, sociology, epidemiology and public policy, IFAS researchers and their colleagues tap into these "living laboratories" where they study real-world providers and help put evidenced based clinical, organizational and workforce improvement innovations into practice and evaluate how well they work.

IFAS has assembled an interdisciplinary staff trained in public policy, public health, gerontology, epidemiology, psychology, sociology, statistics, survey research, long-term care administration and business.

The principal areas of staff expertise include:

• Program Evaluation
• Knowledge Transfer
• Policy Analysis
• Epidemiology/Clinical Trials

View staff bios