Meet Caring.com's Experts

Dr. David Blende, DDS, has more than 20 years' experience providing comprehensive dental care. His practice, the Blende Dental Group, serves the phobic, disabled, geriatric, and medically compromised communities through sleep dentistry. A division of his practice, Bay Area House Call Dentists, delivers dental services to senior communities and private homes in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rebecca S. Boxer, MD is a geriatric heart failure specialist and an assistant professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. She is a nationally recognized expert on aging and heart disease.

Julie Kardachi is an occupational therapist, and Celeste Carlucci is a professional dancer and fitness expert. With more than 60 years of combined experience in the field, they created and run Fall Stop…MOVE STRONG, a joyful, dance- and education-based fall-prevention and strengthening program that keeps older adults active and safe at home and in their communities. They have been teaching this program since 2004, and the program DVD has been sold since 2008.

As Founder and Director of Circles of Care, Ann Cason provides caregiving, consulting, and training services to individuals and public and private organizations involved in eldercare. She is the author of Circles of Care: How to Set Up Quality Home Care for Our Elders.

Linda Hawes Clever, MD, MACP is founding President of RENEW, a not-for-profit aimed at helping devoted people maintain (and regain) enthusiasm, effectiveness and purpose. She is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Clinical Professor of Medicine at UCSF, former Editor of the Western Journal of Medicine, and founding Chair of the Department of Occupational Health at California Pacific Medical Center. Her new book is entitled, The Fatigue Prescription, Four Steps to Renewing Your Energy, Health and Life

Denis Clifford is a lawyer specializing in estate planning. A graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review, he has practiced law in Berkeley, California since 1968. He is the author of many books, including Plan Your Estate, Make You Own Living Trust and Nolo’s Simple Will Book.

Kelly Connell is a sexuality educator and consultant with more than 18 years of experience in the field of sexuality.

She is the owner of Kelly Connell Consulting, an organization that provides sexuality education and consulting services, and she engages in public speaking and educational programs and writes for various organizations. Connell recognizes that sexuality is an important quality-of-life issue and has provided sexuality education programs to college students and adults, healthcare providers, patient support groups, senior citizen centers, and other organizations and populations.

Deborah Cooke is a gerontologist specializing in dementia, delirium, caregiving, and senior fitness. She is a certified dementia care provider and specialist through the Alzheimer's Foundation of America. Cooke currently manages several multidisciplinary programs to enhance well-being for hospitalized seniors and other vulnerable patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She also serves on the board of NewYork-Presbyterian's Patient and Family Education Advisory Committee. She has 18 years of experience working with the aging and caregiver communities.

Bonnie Bajorek Daneker is author and creator of the The Compassionate Caregiver's Series, which includes "The Compassionate Caregiver's Guide to Caring for Someone with Cancer," "The Journey of Grief," "Handbook on Hospice and Palliative Care," and other titles on cancer diagnosis and end of life. She speaks regularly at cancer research and support functions, including PANCAN and Cancer Survivor's Network. She is a former member of the Executive Committee of the CSN at St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta and the Georgia Chapter of the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

Elizabeth Dugan, a Fellow of the Gerontology Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, is the author of Driving Dilemma: The Complete Resource Guide for Older Drivers and Their Families.