Organizers

Linda H. Clever, MD

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, Former 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.  Dr. Clever received undergraduate and medical degrees from Stanford University and had several years of medical residency and fellowships at Stanford and UCSF in internal medicine, infectious diseases, community medicine and occupational medicine.  She likes good walks, good conversations, and good cookies.

Joyce Hanna, MA, MS

Joyce is Associate Director of Health Improvement Program, Stanford School of Medicine. Joyce has developed and conducted health education seminars and conferences, with a focus on behavior change, healthy aging, weight management, exercise physiology, and nutrition. She is a former consultant to the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, and past president of Lifelong Fitness Alliance, an organization that promoted physical activity throughout the lifespan.  Joyce is the founder and co-director of Living Strong, Living Well, a strength/fitness program for cancer patients and survivors.  She is also the program Director of the popular Stanford Alumni Annual Healthy Living Retreat for Women. She likes to spend time with her five grandchildren, family and friends. She enjoys mountain hiking, reading biographies, going to good movies and chocolate.

Judith Taksa Webb, MA, CPG

RJudith Taksa Webb, MA, CPG and retired Avenidas Manager of Lifelong Learning & Wellness, holds a MA Degree inGerontology from San Francisco State University with a focus on fitness and aging, as well as Personal Fitness Trainer and Adaptive Fitness certifications. She is a credentialed professional gerontologist.

Judith is founder and director of Vintage Athletic Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the encouragement and promotion of fitness/athletic activities for older adults. She taught Lifelong Fitness exercise classes at Canada College and instructed adaptive exercise for the Cardiac Therapy Foundation of the Mid-Peninsula. Judith practices what she preaches – a chronic exerciser, she is particularly fond of marathon running, and good food and wine.

Kate Lorig, PhD

Kate Lorig, PhD, is the Director of the Stanford Patient Education Research Center and Professor of Medicine in the Stanford School of Medicine.   She earned her bachelors degree in nursing at Boston University, and her masters and doctorate of public health (Dr.P.H.) in health education at the University of California, Berkeley. She came to Stanford in 1979 while a graduate student at Cal to develop and research an educational program that emphasized self-help skills for people with arthritis. This program became the Arthritis Self-Help Course and was the prototype for the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program, The Diabetes Self-Management Program, the Positive Self-Management Program for HIV/AIDS, the Cancer: Thriving and Surviving Program, the Building Better Caregiver's Program, Self-Management Program, and others. She has authored several books and many articles about arthritis, chronic disease in general, health education and behavioral science. She enjoys travels and is fluent in Spanish.

Ken Waldron, PhD

Ken Waldron, PhD, is Professor of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering at UTS. He is also Professor Emeritus from the Design Group in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Stanford University. He holds bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Sydney, and PhD in design from Stanford. He works in machine design, and design methodology with a particular focus on robotic and mechatronic systems for elder care and augmentation of human functioning and mobility.  

Manjula Waldron, PhD

Manjula Waldron, PhD, is a Consulting Professor in Stanford Prevention research Center at Stanford school of medicine. Since 1998 she has focused on living long well in mind body and spirit. She a Stanford alumna (Master’s ’68 and PhD ‘71 in Electrical Engineering. Retired as a biomedical professor is widely published in engineering design research, deafness, and sensory integration She is a researcher, author; more recently, a novelist. She has taught “Resilient aging for achieving longevity,” as well as science and spirituality courses for Stanford Continuing Studies and designing for healthy aging for HIP program. She is participating member of Stanford Center for Longevity and Neuroscience and is committed to Smart aging through a functional quality of life. 

Randall Stafford, MD, PhD

Randall S. Stafford, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine at the Stanford School of Medicine and the Director of the Program on Prevention Outcomes and Practices (PPOP). Dr. Stafford is a primary care physician in the Stanford Internal Medicine Clinic where he focuses on chronic disease prevention and treatment. He serves on expert committees advising a diverse range of organizations, including the California Medicaid program, the National Committee on Quality Assurance, the American Heart Association, and the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. His research focuses on development and dissemination of effective team based self care to improve health outcomes and diminish the burden of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease while reducing health disparities and decreasing health care costs.

Professor Stafford now leads the WELL-China initiative, that focuses on western and Chinese medicine to promote well-being, human function, chronic disease risk factors, environmental indicators, and biomarkers in a sample of 10,000 citizen scientists recruited from the Xihu (Westlake) District of Hangzhou. This project is part of Stanford WELL project.

Richard Adler, MA, MB

Richard is a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto. Richard has worked in the field of aging for more than two decade., focused on the link between aging and technology. When he first started working in aging, it was “about them,” but now he finds that “it’s about himself.”    At IFTF, Richard has directed research on the aging of the baby boomers and the future of caregiving. He is currently leading an effort at Avenidas, the Palo Alto Senior Center, to create a  Generations Lab where  older adults can explore the new world of personal digital technologies.    

Bob Spears

Bob Spears is the retired marketing guy who dealt with Silicon Valley startups. Currently he uses “The Culture Connection”, a group he founded in the 1990’s to help companies hiring H1 visa holders adapt to American life & Silicon Valley business life, to teach classes under the umbrella, “Window on the West” to help students adapt to American life & American academic life through The Bechtel International Center, Stanford & The Leadership School, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. Bob spent his time on leaving a legacy project, researching retirement, health, and housing options for his family and friends in the Bay area and stays committed to being engaged and fit as he traverses his post retirement years. He sees smart aging as an intergenerational cultural connection.

Ruth Kedar

Ruth Kedar is the President of Kedar Designs, a design firm specializing in branding and visual communications. For the past 30 years Ruth has been sought after as an ideator, mentor and speaker both in the United States and abroad, and her work has been recognized world wide. She is perhaps best known for designing the Google logo. In addition to tending to her design practice, Ruth enjoys practicing aikido, a Japanese martial art.