Nora O’Brien-Suric, MA, senior program officer at The John A. Hartford Foundation,
has over twenty years of experience in the field of aging, including nine with the Brookdale Foundation developing and overseeing national program development for direct services, research and policy projects on aging, and six at the International Longevity Center-USA as director of National and International Partnerships. Trained in the field of gerontology, with a background that ranges from direct, clinical services for older persons, to policy, research, and analysis, Ms. O’Brien-Suric has also served as a corporate consultant, program developer, fundraiser, speaker, and writer—all in the field of aging.

Earlier in her career, Ms. O’Brien-Suric spent four years with the Partnership for Eldercare (Fund for Aging Services of the NYC Department for the Aging) developing, implementing, and running an eldercare consultation agency with Fortune 500 companies as clients. She also worked as a fund developer for the New York City Department for the Aging (Citymeals-on-Wheels), and an entitlement specialist at the Institute on Law and Rights for Older Adults at the Brookdale Center on Aging. In other assignments, she has served as a research assistant for Berkeley Research Associates, conducting interviews and collecting data on social health maintenance organizations; geriatric mental health specialist for the Orange County (CA) Healthcare Agency; and geriatric social worker and discharge planner for Bellwood General Hospital, also in California. Ms. O’Brien-Suric has been a frequent speaker at venues such as the Gerontological Society of America, the American Society on Aging, the National Council on Aging, and the International Association of Gerontologists and Geriatricians. Topics she has covered in scholarly and professional presentations include “Eldercare, An Important, Evolving Agenda for the 90s”; “Legal and Financial Planning in Later Years”; “Legal and Ethical Dilemmas Involved in Elder Abuse Interventions”; and “Emergency Preparedness for Older People.” Her publications include a study of a “Holistic Approach to Elderlaw, the Successful Marriage Between Attorneys and Social Workers“, which appeared in the Clearing House Review, “Emergency Preparedness for Older People”, a summary of the research on the impact of 9/11 on older people in New York City, and “Education and Training for Careers in Foundations” in Generations: Summer 2007.