Keynote Biographies
Joseph F. Coughlin, PhD is Founder and Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, the first multi-disciplinary research program created to understand the behavior of the 45+ population, the role of technology and the opportunity for innovations to improve the quality of life of older adults and their families. Dr. Coughlin's own research focuses on how the convergence of baby boomer expectations and technology will shape the future of public policy and drive innovation across global industries, including the financial services, insurance, health, IT, telecommunications, automobile and retail sectors. He has published his work in a variety of business, engineering and policy journals. In February 2008, Wall Street Journal named him one of America's 12 pioneers inventing the future of retirement and aging. Dr. Coughlin was recently recognized by the Visiting Nurse Association as a Home Health Hero for his research in technology-enabled innovation in home healthcare services for the elderly. He teaches strategic management, planning and public policy at MIT's School of Engineering's Engineering Systems Division and at MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. He co-developed and co-teaches, with MIT colleague Stanley Finklestein, MD, (ESD '69) Seminar of Health Care Systems Innovation, also offered at Harvard Medical School as HMS HC 750.
Stewart M. Coulter, PhD is General Manager at DEKA Research and Development Corporation, which develops internally generated inventions and provides research and development for major corporate clients. DEKA, founded and led by Dean Kamen, has been responsible for such inventions as the HomeChoice™ portable peritoneal dialysis machine, the INDEPENCENCE® IBOT® Mobility System and the Segway® Human Transporter. DEKA is continuing to drive innovation in medical product design through projects such as a new prosthetic arm system currently under development. Prior to his time at DEKA, Stewart worked with a variety of companies focused on innovation, product and process design in industries ranging from automotive to semiconductor manufacturing. He received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, where his research focused on innovation in the design process. Stewart holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.
Patricia A. Moore is President of MooreDesign Associates and an internationally renowned gerontologist and designer serving as a leading authority on consumer lifespan behaviors and requirements. For three years, from 1979 to 1982, in an exceptional and daring experiment, she traveled throughout the US and Canada disguised as women more than 80 years of age. With her body altered to simulate the normal sensory changes associated with aging, she was able to respond to people, products and environments as an elder. Her broad range of experience includes research, product development and design, environmental design, package design, transportation design, market analysis and product positioning. Clients include AT&T, Baxter Healthcare, Boeing, Corning Glass, General Electric, GTE, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, Kraft General Foods, NASA, Merck, Sharpe, Marriott, Maytag, Monsanto, OXO, Procter & Gamble, Searle Laboratories and Whirlpool. She is a frequent international lecturer, media guest and author of Disguised: A True Story, The Business of Aging (2008) and Ouch! Why Bad Design Hurts. She is co-author of the American National Standards Committee on Anthropometry, a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Physical Therapy Association, the Harrington Arthritis Research Center, the Herberger Center for Design Excellence at Arizona State University, the Advisory Board of CARF and the American Occupational Therapy Association. Patricia holds undergraduate degrees in Industrial, Environmental and Communication Design from Rochester Institute of Technology; graduate degrees in Psychology, Counseling and Human Development (Social Gerontology) from Columbia University; and completed Advanced Studies in Biomechanics at New York University's Medical School & Rusk Institute.
