Episode 10:6 Dr. Kerry Burnight, Ph.D. on Creating a New Culture around Aging

The Founder of The Gerontologist Inc. talks technology, elder abuse, and the need to create autonomy for older adults.

About Kerry

Kerry Burnight, Ph.D., is a nationally renowned gerontologist and the founder of The Gerontologist, Inc., an advisory firm that helps companies understand and meet the needs of older adults. She is an aging expert determined to help others improve the second half of their lives.
 
Burnight spent 18 years at the University of California, Irvine, as a professor of geriatric medicine, where she developed a greater understanding of the tragedies and triumphs of growing older. There, she co-founded and directed the nation’s first Elder Abuse Forensic Center and the national non-profit, Ageless Alliance: United Against Elder Abuse, which works to eliminate elder abuse through awareness and advocacy.
 

She has served on the executive leadership team of GrandPad—a technology firm that developed a user-friendly, custom-engineered tablet that has connected over 100,000 adults to their loved ones. As chief gerontologist, she assembled a team of colleagues, ages 82-106, who uncovered thousands of frustration points and identified elements required for a successful product.
 
Her work has been featured on CBS News, The Doctors, Money Matters, The Dr. Phil Show, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. White House.

Key Takeaways

• Elder abuse is a $37 billion business—older adults duped by devious, savvy methods of control and financial exploitation.
• Legacy and autonomy are older adult developmental imperatives. “Taking care” of older adults is the opposite of what they are hungry for.
• We have been filled to the brim with lies about aging, fueled by a multibillion-dollar anti-aging industry.