2025 Roybal Annual Meeting

Book your stay

2025agenda

Hotel
Accommodations

April 30-May 1

Location

Marriott Bethesda Downtown at Marriott HQ

Address

7707 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

Book your stay

We have reserved a block of sleeping rooms at the Bethesdan Hotel, based on the meeting/travel dates and will be billed directly to your credit card at checkout. Upon check-in, you will be required to present a credit card to cover charges incurred during your stay. Your credit card will be charged for any room charge, hotel incidentals, late cancellations, or no-show charges.

Hotel check-in begins at 4:00 pm on April 29th and check-out is 12:00 pm on May 1st. Please view the hotel’s website for additional information about the amenities and surrounding attractions.

Speakers

Susan Michie, FMedSci, FAcSS, FBA, FSBM is Professor of Health Psychology, University College London, UK. She is Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change and co-Director of Behavioural Research-UK. Professor Michie’s research focuses on human behaviour change in relation to health and the environment: how to understand it theoretically and apply theory and evidence to intervention and policy development, evaluation and implementation. Her research, collaborating with disciplines such as information science, environmental science, computer science and medicine, covers population, organisational and individual-level interventions. Examples include the Human Behaviour-Change Project and and the NIH-funded 5-year project "Advancing Prevention Research in Cancer through Ontology Tools" (APRICOT). She has published >600 journal articles and several books, including the Behaviour Change Wheel: A Guide to Designing Interventions. She is previous chair and current member of WHO’s Behavioural Insights and Sciences Technical Advisory Group and is part of the Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit advising the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care.

Oscar Gonzalez, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Quantitative Psychology in the LL Thurstone Psychometric Lab at the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He obtained his PhD on Quantitative Research Methods from Arizona State University. His research interests are on psychological measurement, and how the measurement of constructs plays a role in screening procedures, understanding mechanisms of behavior change [via statistical mediation] and in prediction models [machine learning]. His work has appeared in high-impact journals, including Psychological Methods, Multivariate Behavior Research, Structural Equation Modeling, and Psychological Assessment. In 2020, he was inducted into the Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology [SMEP], a 65-member elected society of quantitative methodologists and statisticians. He is currently an Editorial Fellow at Psychological Methods.

Jasper Smits, PhD, is a Professor of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin. His research program aims to bring new intervention strategies for anxiety and related problems to the clinic. Applying a translational research method, Dr. Smits' research includes basic studies to identify and validate mechanisms of change and clinical studies that build upon basic studies by developing and validating novel targeted stand-alone or augmentation interventions. His work has broadened over the years to include the investigation of anxiety vulnerability processes and their intervention in other significant public health problems, most notably smoking. He has been involved in over 25 federal, state, or industry-funded grants and published over 250 works.

Paschal Sheeran completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at University College Dublin and a PhD at the University of Sheffield, where he was also a faculty member for 20 years before moving to UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 to experience sunshine. Paschal’s research program aims to understand the intention-behaviour ‘gap’, test the efficacy of if-then plans (implementation intentions) in promoting health behaviour change, appreciate the role of implicit influences on health actions, develop a self-regulation perspective on affect and behaviour, and undertake crucial tests of health behaviour theories. Despite modest progress with each of these aims, his research has attracted a number of grants, awards, and fellowships.

Dr. Nahum-Shani’s research focuses on conceptual and methodological issues related to constructing adaptive interventions, which, consistent with the goals of precision health, are designed to deliver support (or treatment) in a way that addresses the changing needs of individuals in clinical and community settings. Formally, an adaptive intervention is a protocol that specifies how dynamic (time-varying) information about the individual should be used in practice to decide whether and how to deliver support (or treatment). Of particular interest are just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs)—a special form of adaptive interventions that leverage digital technology (e.g., mobile and wearable devices) to address the rapidly changing needs of individuals in daily life. Dr. Nahum-Shani has recently pioneered the hybrid experimental design (HED), which enables investigators to empirically optimize the integration between human-delivered support that can be adapted on a slow timescale (e.g., monthly or weekly) and digital support that can be adapted on a much faster timescale (e.g., daily or every minute). She leads the Data-science for Dynamic Intervention Decision-making Center (d3c) at the University of Michigan. The d3c is an NIH/NIDA P50 Center of Excellence that serves as a vibrant environment for developing and disseminating methodologies for adapting and personalizing interventions.

Michael W. Otto, Ph.D., is Professor in the Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University. He has had a major career focus on developing and validating new psychosocial treatments for mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders. This work includes a translational research agenda investigating brain-behavior relationships in therapeutic learning. Attention to principles underlying behavior-change failures led him to an additional focus on health-behavior promotion, including investigations of addictive behaviors, medication adherence, sleep, and exercise. Dr. Otto has over 25 years of continuous funding from NIH, and has published over 500 articles, chapters, and books spanning his research interests. He has been identified as a “top producer” in the clinical empirical literature, an ISI Highly Cited Researcher, and recipient of the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology award from the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12 and the 2024 Outstanding Researcher award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. He is also recipient of a 2019 Elizabeth Hurlock Beckman Award for excellence in mentoring from the APA and the 2023 Toy Caldwell-Colbert Award for Distinguished Educator in Clinical Psychology. He also serves as founder of the Mechanistic Behavior Research Consortium and a member of the Exposure Therapy Consortium.

Alison Buttenheim, PhD, MBA, is a Professor of Nursing and Health Policy and Scientific Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research addresses persistent behavior change challenges in public and global health. Using the techniques and frameworks of behavioral economics, Alison designs, test, and scales innovative interventions to prevent and mitigate infectious diseases. She is a recognized global expert in the area of vaccine acceptance, with a particular focus recently on COVID-19 vaccines. Alison also helped launch and serves as the Behavioural Design Lead for Indlela, a first-of-its kind nudge unit supporting innovations in HIV service delivery in South Africa. She co-chaired the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Consensus Committee on Behavioral Economics: Policy Impact and Future Directions in 2023.

Dr. Theodore Zanto is an Associate Professor in Neurology and Director of the UCSF Neuroscape Neuroscience Division. He serves as MPI of the UCSF Neuroscape Roybal Center for Cognitive Interventions in Aging, which is dedicated to investigating the efficacy of closed-loop digital interventions through a remote clinical trials platform. Dr. Zanto's research utilizes fMRI, EEG, and non-invasive brain stimulation techniques to study neural mechanisms at the intersection of attention, perception, and memory, how these mechanisms change in aging, and interventions to remediate age-related cognitive decline. Currently, his basic science research efforts couple neuroimaging with physiological recordings to understand how the brain and body coordinate to promote successful cognition and positive emotional states across the adult lifespan. His translational research interests are to understand the therapeutic potential of music production, nature exposure, and non-invasive brain stimulation to facilitate cognitive function. Dr. Zanto's work has received numerous awards, has been published in more than 60 articles and book chapters, and has been featured in various media outlets, including PBS, NBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine, and Forbes.

Niteesh K. Choudhry, MD, PhD, is a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and executive director for the Center for Healthcare Delivery Sciences at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where he also a practicing hospitalist. He is also associate director of the Workforce Development Program and co-director of Dissemination and Implementation for Harvard’s National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical and Translational Science Center (Harvard Catalyst). He directs two National Institute on Aging-funded research centers: the Roybal Center for Therapeutic Optimization using Behavioral Science, which is evaluating the impact of principle-driven interventions to improve medication adherence, and the Massachusetts Artificial Intelligence and Technology Center that fosters the development of AI-enhanced technologies to support healthy aging at home for older adults and individuals with Alzheimer’s disease.
Much of Dr. Choudhry’s current research deals with design and evaluation of novel strategies to enhance medication adherence and improve the quality of prescribing for common health care conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. He has led numerous pragmatic trials testing a variety of potential interventions to address these issues in partnership with large delivery systems and health insurers around the U.S. His research has published over 300 papers in leading medical and policy journals and he has won numerous awards for excellence in research, teaching, and mentorship.

Joseph E. Gaugler, Ph.D., is the Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care & Aging in the Division of Health Policy and Management in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. He is also director of the Center on Aging.
Gaugler's research examines the sources and effectiveness of long-term care for persons with Alzheimer's disease and other chronic conditions. An applied gerontologist, his interests include Alzheimer's disease and long-term care, the longitudinal ramifications of family care for persons with dementia and other chronic conditions, and the effectiveness of community-based and psychosocial services for older adults with dementia and their caregiving families.

Dr. Joanna Arch is a Professor in the department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder and member in Cancer Prevention and Control at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Her work focuses on understanding, developing, and evaluating interventions for (1) treating anxiety disorders and related symptoms, and (2) promoting mental health and well-being among cancer survivors; and emphasizes the intersection between them. Dr. Arch studies acceptance and mindfulness-based as well as exposure-based behavioral interventions both in laboratory settings and in community cancer clinics throughout the region. Embedding a significant portion of intervention research in community clinics allows her research team to reach geographically broader and more diverse participants and to collaborate directly with community practitioners.

Dr. Michaela Kiernan is a Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. She received her PhD in social psychology from Yale University with expertise in research methods. Funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Heart Association (AHA) and other sources, her current research focuses on innovative retention strategies for randomized trials as well as behavioral weight management intervention trials. Dr. Kiernan currently directs the Stanford University School of Medicine (SOM) R01 Countdown Program, an intensive grant writing boot camp for junior faculty, generating $150M in first-time NIH R01s and other grants. She has been a reviewer for the AHA Western States Affiliate Behavioral Science, Epidemiology, and Prevention Review Committee and numerous NIH study sections such as Standing Member of the NIH Psychosocial Risk and Disease Prevention (PDRP) Study Section; Co-Chair of the NIH PRDP Member Conflict Study Section; and Ad Hoc Member, NHLBI Special Emphasis Panel: Single-Site and Pilot Clinical Trials (SSPT) and NIMHD Special Emphasis Panel: Research Centers in Minority Institutions. Dr. Kiernan consulted for the SOM Center of Excellence Minority Faculty Development Program (2001-2007) and was awarded the SOM Department of Medicine’s Divisional Teaching Award (2002, 2007, and 2018).

Meeting Resources

2025meetingresources

Local Area
Information

Map of restaurants in the area within walking distance from the hotel

Questions?

The Roybal Coordinating Center
The Roybal Coordinating Center (PI: Karina Davidson) will be hosting the Roybal Annual Meeting.

For any questions related to meeting content, please contact:
RoybalNIAcenters@northwell.edu • 516-359-2571

Rose Li and Associates, Inc.
Rose Li and Associates, Inc. (RLA), under contract with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is pleased to provide logistical support.

2025 Roybal Annual Meeting

Hotel Accommodations

Location

Address

7707 Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

Speakers

Meeting Resources

Local Area Information

Questions?

The Roybal Coordinating Center The Roybal Coordinating Center (PI: Karina Davidson) will be hosting the Roybal Annual Meeting.

For any questions related to meeting content, please contact: RoybalNIAcenters@northwell.edu • 516-359-2571

Rose Li and Associates, Inc. Rose Li and Associates, Inc. (RLA), under contract with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is pleased to provide logistical support.

For any logistical support, please contact: Stephanie Tiller • stephanie.tiller@roseliassociates.com • 240-552-9759

Hotel
Accommodations

Local Area
Information

The Roybal Coordinating Center
The Roybal Coordinating Center (PI: Karina Davidson) will be hosting the Roybal Annual Meeting.

For any questions related to meeting content, please contact:
RoybalNIAcenters@northwell.edu • 516-359-2571

Rose Li and Associates, Inc.
Rose Li and Associates, Inc. (RLA), under contract with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is pleased to provide logistical support.

For any logistical support, please contact:
Stephanie Tiller • stephanie.tiller@roseliassociates.com • 240-552-9759