Rita Choula
Rita Chouls is the Director of Caregiving with the AARP Public Policy Insitute. She leads and provides content expertise on family caregiving initiatives throughout AARP and externally. Bridging policy and research to practice, much of her work focuses on identifying and supporting the needs of family caregivers from our communities of color, through a multi-disciplinary approach that elevates the unique nature of each caregiving experience. Rita currently leads AARP's work to address disparities and build equity in long-term care for black, Latino, and Asian American Pacific Islander older adults and their family caregivers.
Moved by her personal experience serving as a family caregiver for he mother and grandmother, Rita is driven to ensure systems are structured to meet the holistic needs of family caregivers, addressing their unique experiences and enabling them to manage their own wellbeing while providing care to others.
Rita holds a Master's Degree in the management of aging services from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Frontotemporal Dementia.
Bob Stephen
Bob Stephen is AARP’s Vice President, Caregiving and Health Programs and serves as AARP’s lead for family caregiving. In these roles, he leads the strategy and execution of AARP’s enterprise-wide efforts to help 50 plus Americans live independently as they age, while supporting the 40 million family caregivers who so often make this possible.
Prior to joining AARP in 2010, Bob spent over two decades in strategy development and management consulting where he worked with rural communities and healthcare providers. He has a BA from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business.
Sarah A. Payne
Dr. Payne graduated from Michigan State University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Upon graduation, she attended the Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Graduating in 2005, she went on to complete her internship & residency in Family Medicine with a special emphasis on geriatric medicine at Metro Health Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. Upon graduating from residency in 2008, she and her husband moved to Arizona to complete her fellowship training with the Banner Family Medicine Geriatric Fellowship Program in Sun City, Arizona. She is board certified in family medicine & Osteopathic manipulative treatment, geriatric medicine, and hospice & palliative care medicine. Dr. Payne practiced as a full-time geriatrician with Banner Medical Group since graduating fellowship. She has served as the Physician Site Lead at the Peoria clinic from 2015-November2017, overseeing 18 primary care providers. In November 2017, she transitioned into the role of Senior Medical Director with Banner Hospice and in July 2018, became the Division Medical Director for Palliative Medicine & Hospice. In her current role, she oversees 22 providers across 10 hospitals and 3 hospice locations spanning Phoenix, Tucson, and Northern Colorado. She serves as clinical faculty for the Geriatric Fellowship Program, participating in their lecture series, board review series, hospice & palliative care rotation and their scholarly activity projects. She was awarded “Teach of the Year” from the Fellowship program in 2011. Dr. Payne has also served as a community medicine preceptor for the Arizona Podiatric Medicine Program at Midwestern University, awarded “Most Valuable Preceptor” award in 2016.
Dr. Payne serves on several committees within Banner Health including:
Banner Medical Group Just Culture Committee for which she is the Vice Chair; Banner Health Post-Acute Safety Council; Banner Hospice, Palliative, Geriatrics, & Integrative Medicine Clinical Consensus Group.
Dr. Payne is a member of multiple state and national societies including:
The American Geriatrics Society
The Arizona Geriatrics Society for which she is a Board Member and was awarded Arizona’s “Geriatrician of the Year” award in 2021
The Society for Post-Acute & Long-Term Care Medicine
The American Association of Hospice & Palliative Medicine
The National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization for which she also serves on the Physician Education sub-committee of this organization
The Center to Advance Palliative Care
The American Osteopathic Association
and The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians