DeDe Pruett

DeDe Pruett

DeDe Pruett was born and raised in Minnesota and attended Catholic schools throughout her education, including grade school, an all-girls high school, and St. Catherine University (formerly the College of St. Catherine), which is now home to the largest women's undergraduate program in the United States. She later attended graduate school at the University of Hawaii. A lifelong learner, DeDe graduated as salutatorian of her high school class and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Mu Epsilon at St. Catherine University, as well as Beta Phi Mu at the University of Hawaii. After marrying a career Navy officer, DeDe had the opportunity to live in many parts of the country, including Castine, Maine; Monterey, California; Newport, Rhode Island; Oahu, Hawaii; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Vienna, Virginia, before eventually returning home to Minnesota. Professionally, DeDe worked as a public librarian for 13 years with the Fairfax County Public Library system in Virginia. Her path to Encore Creativity came through this career in libraries and lifelong learning. Music has been part of DeDe's life since childhood. She learned piano from a teenage neighbor and studied it throughout high school. While piano recitals were never her favorite activity, she discovered a love for choral singing early on. As a seventh and eighth grader, she sang at daily Latin Masses and often volunteered to sing at weddings and funerals. Looking back, choral singing was the musical activity she enjoyed most. Although she did not sing with an organized choir again for many years, she continued singing at Mass and maintained her lifelong appreciation for music.

Wendy Miller

Wendy Miller, Ph.D. ATR-BC, LCPAT, REAT, LPC, BCPC is a writer, sculptor, educator, and expressive arts therapist. She taught for over fifteen years in various universities throughout the country, including John F Kennedy University, San Francisco State University, Southwestern College, Lesley College, California Institute of Integral Studies, and The George Washington University. She is a practicing clinician and the co-founder of Create Therapy Institute, which offers clinical services in arts-based psychotherapy and trainings in the expressive arts. She is a founding member, and first elected (past) executive co-chair of the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, where she continues to be on their Advisory Council. Her current work is evolving as she integrates her own work with the legacy of her late husband’s work, pioneer of creative aging, Gene Cohen.        Miller’s skills take her into the worlds of fine art, writing, psychology, expressive arts therapy and mind-body medicine.  She has published on medical illness and the arts as complementary medicine, the use of sand tray therapy with internationally adopted children, experiential approaches to supervision in expressive arts therapy, and on the cultural responsibility of the arts in therapy. She continues to research the relationships among the arts, creativity, aging, and health. She has published her book from the writing she and Gene did together, entitled: Sky Above Clouds: Finding our way through creativity, aging and illness, released in March 2016 from Oxford University Press. (www.sky-above-clouds.com [http://www.sky-above-clouds.com/]). Miller is a speaker available for conference keynotes, conversational readings, and presentations on life-cycle challenges and creative aging.

Dr. Mary Ann East

Mary Ann East has been with Encore Creativity for Older Adults since August 2018 when she began conducting the Encore Chorale at Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads. In September of 2019 Mary Ann became the Program Director of Sentimental Journey Singers, Encore’s choral program for singers with early to mid-stage cognitive change and their care partners. On June 1, 2022 Mary Ann became the Director of Arts for Life working to expand Encore’s programing for those with cognitive change.   Mary Ann has taught music to ages 3-93. She is a former Fairfax County Public School music teacher where she taught elementary general music through high school choir and former adjunct professor at George Mason University. Mary Ann is currently the Music Director at Community of Faith UMC in Herndon (VA) and Co-Founder/Artistic Director of Capital Harmonia, a local women’s chorus whose mission is to bring music composed by women and for women’s voices to the DC area through partnerships with local women’s organizations. Mary Ann holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Boston University, a Master of Music in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance from George Mason University, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Indiana University.

Dr. Terry Fulmer

Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, is President Emerita of The John A. Hartford Foundation in New York City, a foundation dedicated to improving the care of older adults. She serves as the chief strategist for the Foundation and her vision for better care of older adults is catalyzing the Age-Friendly Health Systems social movement. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and served on the independent Coronavirus Commission for Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. She previously served as Distinguished Professor and Dean of Health Sciences at Northeastern University and Founding Dean of the New York University College of Nursing. Dr. Fulmer is nationally and internationally recognized as a leading expert in geriatrics and is also known for conceptualization and development of the national NICHE program and research on the topic of elder abuse and neglect. She is the first nurse to have served on the board of the American Geriatrics Society. She is also the first nurse to have served as President of the Gerontological Society of America, which awarded her the 2019 Donald P. Kent Award for exemplifying the highest standards for professional leadership in the field of aging.

Dan Cohen

Dan Cohen, MSW, founder and CEO of Right to Music [https://righttomusic.com/], is a passionate advocate for integrating best practice music-based interventions into healthcare, especially long-term care and for all persons with dementia.  In 2010 he founded Music & Memory, a nonprofit organization that promotes the use of personalized music to enhance the well-being of the elderly and infirm. The therapeutic and joyful outcomes of his work are portrayed in the Sundance audience award-winning documentary, "Alive Inside.” You can watch the documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPIORV5NekM [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPIORV5NekM] He has presented at numerous healthcare and dementia caregiver conferences in the United States and internationally.  Driven by his vision of widespread adoption of music-based interventions, he is focused on advocating for policy changes, raising public awareness, improving research, and modifying the curriculum for future healthcare professionals. Additionally, he is a co-founder of the International Music and Dementia Advocacy Coalition, which seeks to expand global access to music for people with dementia.