Dr. Kathryn Braun is Professor of Public Health and Social Work, chair of the PhD in Public Health program, and Barbara Cox Anthony Endowed Chair on Aging at the University of Hawai‘i. She also serves as Principal Investigator of Hā Kūpuna National Resource Center for Native Hawaiian Elders and serves as Co-Investigator on several other federally funded grants to improve elder care, to reduce ethnic disparities in health, and to train the research workforce. Dr. Braun is known for her work in community-based participatory research in cancer and gerontology, and she has published more than 250 articles, books, and book chapters on these topics. She is a past winner of a Board of Regent’s Medal for Excellence in Teaching from the University of Hawai‘i and is a fellow in the Gerontological Society of America. With Drs. Takeo Ogawa, Donghee Han, and Cullen Hayashida, Dr. Braun co-founded ACAP in 2004 and has been its President since 2008.

Dr. Cullen Hayashida was the founder and former director of the Kupuna (Elder) Education Center at Kapi‘olani Community College, where he developed curricula for family caregivers, healthcare para-professionals, and active agers. While trained as an academic, he spent his career developing and testing more than 50 eldercare services that operated within hospitals, nursing homes, home and community college settings. Other projects offered and tested models of the use of care homes for nursing home care, case management, home health care, and emergency response systems. He has provided technical assistance to other organizations locally, nationally, and in Asia. Dr. Hayashida was also the principal author of the Hawaiʻi State Executive on Aging’s White Paper called the “2020 Vision on Active Aging” (2014) and the promotion of retirees as Hawaii’s fastest growing human resource. . He was a co-founder of ACAP in 2004 and has been a member since then.

Dr. Donghee Han is the President/Director of Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly. She is a board member of Active Aging Consortium in Asia Pacific and the Korean Gerontological Society. She is an Invited Professor of the University Respati Yogyakarta Indonesia. She is chairperson of the Commission of Elderly Policy and the Consultant of the Commission of the 15m City in Busan Metropolitan City Government and Consultant for the National Pension System in Busan, Korea. She has won Korean government awards for RISBLE program’s Information and Culture in Cyber Spaces for Older Persons and Re-design for Dementia Patients and their Families. She has developed innovative programs for older people by ICT, including Cyber Family, Cyber Neighbours, and Internet Navigators. She recently developed CEP programs for narrative skill and has trained trainers to promote cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being for older persons by Wellageing Aids, including those in long-term care facilities. She is a Committee Member of Healthy Aging Prize for Asian Innovation. She was a co-founder of ACAP in 2004 and has been involved since then.

Dr. Takeo Ogawa, a Professor Emeritus at Kyushu and Yamaguchi Universities, received his MA from Kyushu University and PhD from Kurume University. He currently serves as President of the Asian Aging Business Center and corporate advisor for Aso Education Service Co., Ltd. Dr. Ogawa managed the JICA Project on Preventive Long-term Care in Bangkok (2018-2020) and led the ERIA research project on long-term care workforce development, publishing a report in 2020. An emeritus member of the Japan Socio-Gerontological Society, he holds advisory roles with Fukuoka-city councils and co-founded ACAP in 2004, serving as its first President. His leadership extends to directing vocational education innovation and chairing the Fukuoka Council for Designing Society for Aging Asia.

Dr. Yoshiko Someya was awarded her PhD from the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, USA in 1980. She has specialized in social gerontology since 1973, when she first worked as a research assistant for the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. She had taught at universities for more than 35 years before retiring from her position as a full-time Professor at The Tokyo Woman’s Christian University in 2015. During these years, she taught graduate students and conducted various research studies. She was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Ageing at the University of Putra Malaysia and a Visiting Professor of Policy Studies at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Dr. Someya was the Director at the Health & Medicine Paradigm Shift Consortium in Tokyo. She has published several books Elderly in Depopulated Areas, based on surveys in Kagoshima Prefecture; Welfare for the Aged in Australia; Ageing and the Family; The Lives of Pensioners in UK; Works in Social Welfare and Their Career Development; Don’t Call Me an Elder Yet; and Changing Attitudes of Supporting Elder Parents in Asia, etc. She joined ACAP in 2005 and was a featured speaker at the 2016 conference of the Hawai‘i Pacific Gerontological Society in Honolulu.

Kaysorn Sumpowthong completed her Master Degree in Public Health from Mahidol University, Thailand. She obtained her PhD in health promotion from the University of Adelaide, Australia. She has been working as a faculty member at the Faculty of Public Health, Thammasat University, Thailand. Dr. Sumpowthong was a former deputy dean for academic affairs and chair for the Master degree program at the Faculty of Public Health. She is now the chair of the academic committees of the MPH and DrPH programs at Lampang Campus. In early 2024, Kaysorn and her team established the Center for International Collaboration of Innovation and Safety for Ageing (CICISA) at Faculty of Public Health, Thammasat University and she served as the chair person for the Center. Dr. Sumpowthong met ACAP members at the 2015 conference of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (IAGG) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Due to her appreciation of ACAP’s spirit and dedication to older persons from countries all over the world, she joined and has been involved
in many activities since then.

Teresa is an Adjunct Professor of the Department of Social Science at The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong and Honorary Professor of Tung Wah College, Hong Kong.  She is also a Visiting Professor of the Respati University of Indonesia  Teresa is a former Professor of Practice (Gerontology) of the Department of Applied Social Sciences and the Founding Director of the Institute of Active Ageing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Teresa has conducted research and published numerous articles and papers on social work and ageing, active ageing, gerontechnology, age-friendly cities, and dementia caregiving. She is currently appointed to various Hong Kong government boards and advisors to 12 non-governmental organizations. Teresa serves as the Founding President of Women’s Initiative for Ageing Successfully, Chairman of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association and Vice-chairman of MIP Care Resources Network, as well as a board member of the Hong Kong Alzheimer’s Disease Association. Teresa was awarded the Certificate of Commendation by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2017. She has been a Hong Kong representative of ACAP since 2013.

Professor Irene Blackberry is the John Richards Chair and Director of the Care Economy Research Institute at La Trobe University. Professor Blackberry is a health services and implementation science researcher of complex multifactorial care. She has over 20 years of research experience across the care economy in Australia and abroad, predominantly in healthcare, aged care and informal care sectors. Her research examines access to care and models of care that are innovative, effective and sustainable, building skills in individuals and greater capacity of the whole-of-community to support people from diverse background and rural communities. Irene is the Past President of Australian Association of Gerontology Victoria, member of the NHMRC Council and Principal Committees 2021-2024 Triennium, on the editorial board of several international journals and expert advisors to government and not-for-profit organisations. She has attracted over $60M in competitive research funding and published 150 reports and journal articles. She holds a bachelor’s degree and PhD in Medicine and a postgraduate study in Program and Economic Evaluation.

Mala Kapur Shankardass is an internationally known sociologist, gerontologist, and health social scientist based in India. She is a University of Delhi faculty member who has taught for the past 37 years. She is also a researcher, writer, and activist. She has 10 books with prestigious publishers, with 5 more books forthcoming in 2022. She has over 100 published articles in scientific journals, books, magazines, and newspapers. She has chaired sessions, delivered keynote address and presentations at academic forums around the world on ageing, health, gender, and development issues. She is an editorial board member of international and national journals and is also one of the Emerald Open Research Gateway Advisory board members. She is the Asia Representative of the International Network for Prevention of Elder Abuse. As the Managing Trustee of the Development, Welfare, and Research Foundation, which focuses on quality of life issues, she has been involved with many grassroots projects to advocate for older people. She has received various international fellowships given by the European Union, the Ford Foundation, the US, and the UNFPA for her work on health and ageing issues. She is involved with various ACAP activities and has been a member of ACAP since 2018.

Dr. Chandrakala Diyali, Sr. Assistant Professor at Amity University and former Assistant Professor at Delhi University, holds a Ph.D., M.Phil., and MSW in Social Work, with distinguished achievements including a UGC fellowship and a Sikkim Government scholarship. As a Research Advisor for a National Commission for Women project, Dr. Diyali led the first comprehensive study on women in Sikkim, widely cited by researchers. Her research interests span Geriatric Social Work, Mental Health, Gender Studies, and Indian Religious Philosophies, with numerous publications in respected journals like Scopus and Springer. She also serves on the Executive Committee of ACAP, representing India, and has been a dedicated educator and researcher since 2003, including as an international visiting faculty at Universitas Raspati Indonesia.

Ashish Goel completed his post-graduation training in Internal Medicine in India, and subsequently a Master in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University under a Fulbright fellowship, acquiring skills in research methods, epidemiology, leadership, biostatistical analysis, and scientific publications. He has worked at several medical schools and currently is the Chair of the Department of Medicine at AIMS, in Punjab in India. He is a passionate teacher, humble researcher, and a conscientious physician who creates and maintains networks at an international level. His areas of interest include end-of-life care, medical ethics, doctor-patient relationships, applications of technology in health, geriatric emergency medicine, and medical education with special focus in areas related to frailty, falls, abuse, and health of incarcerated inmates. He currently is President (Elect) of the Indian Academy of Geriatrics and Vice President of the Association of Gerontology (India) and has been an ACAP member since 2019.

Tengku Aizan Hamid received her tertiary education at Iowa State University in in Ames from 1978-82 for her bachelor’s and master’s degree and returned to Iowa State in 1989 to pursue her Doctor of Philosophy degree and graduated in Human Development and Family Studies with a minor in Gerontology in 1992. Upon graduation in the 80s she joined Universiti Putra Malaysia as a lecturer in the Department Human Family Studies and Gerontology. She teaches a spectrum of human development and family and gerontology courses for undergraduate and graduate students at the university. Dr Hamid is a pioneer in gerontology education and research in Malaysia. She was responsible for the establishment of the 1st multidisciplinary research institute in Malaysia based in Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2002 and was appointed as its founding director. The institute was later was upgraded to Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing (MyAgeing ®) in 2015 by the government of Malaysia. During her tenure as Professor in Gerontology and Social Policy, she sits in many national and regional committees related to population ageing issues. Dr Hamid is also active in the civil society organisations in Malaysia as founding member and management of the Home Economic Association of Malaysia, Gerontological Association of Malaysia, and Malaysian Social Science Association. Dr Hamid was the consultant to develop the KL Declaration on Ageing: Empowering Older in ASEAN adopted in 2015. She is a fellow of the Malaysian Academy of Science and the World Academy of Science. She was the part of the founding members to establish ACAP at Fukuoka. Currently, she is serving as the Chairman of the Board, Private Pension Administrator Malaysia.

Dr. Oyunkhand Ragchaa, M.D., Ph.D., MScM, is a clinical professor, a consulting doctor of Internal Medicine, and renowned expert in geriatric medicine and health management. She received her MD from the Medical University of Mongolia, and her PhD in Medicine at the Health Science University of Mongolia. Additionally, she has postgraduate training in Health Management and as a Physiotherapist from the National Center of Health Development of Mongolia. As President of the Mongolian Gerontology and Geriatrics Association, she has dedicated over two decades to advancing elderly care, health policy, and research on aging in Mongolia. Dr. Oyunkhand has held leadership roles in healthcare institutions and the Ministry of Health, contributing to national and international initiatives for healthy aging.

Dr. Leng Leng Thang is an Associate Professor of the Department of Japanese Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at the National University of Singapore. She is also co-lead of Purposeful Longevity workstream of Health District@Queenstown, an National University of Singapore, National University Health System and Housing Development Board initiative. She obtained her PhD (Anthropology) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a socio-cultural anthropologist with research interests in ageing and intergenerational approaches and relationships with a focus on Asia, especially Japan and Singapore. Among her numerous publications are “Generations in Touch: Linking the Old and Young in a Tokyo Neighborhood“ from Cornell University Press (2000) and “Intergenerational Contact Zones: Place-based Strategies for Promoting Social Inclusion and Belonging” co-edited with Kaplan, Sanchez, and Hoffman (Routledge, 2020). She is widely involved with promoting intergenerational work in Singapore and beyond, with latest involvement in Channel News Asia 4-part documentary titled “It Takes a Village” (available on youtube) about intergenerational bonding in Singapore’s St John St Margaret’s Village. Leng Leng is also the current president of the Gerontological Society of Singapore. She has been involved with ACAP since its inception.

Thelma Kay was educated at the National University of Singapore and the London School of Economics and Political Science. She had a long career with the United Nations, most recently as Chief of the Social Development Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). At UNESCAP, she was in charge of regional implementation and monitoring of global and regional mandates on social development, social protection, gender equality and ageing. She also served as Senior Advisor on Ageing Issues, Ministry of Social and Family Development, Singapore, and she was a faculty member at the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore.  Ms. Kay has served on the board of entities of global and regional organizations (such as UNESCO, Asian Institute of Technology). She is currently an advisor/consultant to governments, regional bodies, international organizations, and United Nations entities. She first encountered ACAP at an international conference in Melbourne in 2010, when she attended an event organized by ACAP and was very impressed by its purpose and the commitment of its members. She has been with ACAP since then, and has actively participated in ACAP activities in many countries.