KARA DASSEL

Kara Dassel, Ph.D., FGSA, FAGHE, is a professor of Gerontology in the College of Nursing at the University of Utah. Dassel earned her doctorate in Gerontology from the University of Kentucky and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona. Her research interests focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, end-of-life care planning, and caregiver health outcomes. Her research team created an advance care planning conversation guide, known as the LEAD Guide (Life-Planning in Early Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias), which serves as the foundation for an NIH-funded clinical trial aimed at promoting engagement in advance care planning in community-based dyads. On a community level, she serves on the professional advisory board of the Utah Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and is a member of the Utah Commission on Aging and the Utah Department of Health Alzheimer’s Disease Coordinating Council.