Center on Aging - Florida International University

Dr. Pamela Elfenbein is Director of Education and Training at The Center on Aging, Robert Stempel School of Public Health, College of Health and Urban Affairs, at Florida International University. She holds a B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University, an M.S.W. from Barry College, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Miami.

As an educator, Dr. Elfenbein stresses the need for a holistic, interdisciplinary approach to healthy aging, and focuses on health promotion and disease prevention in her courses. She has designed and currently teaches three graduate-level, fully asynchronous web-delivered courses - allowing for interaction and networking among graduate students in multiple health disciplines from around the world.

Dr. Elfenbein has been a very active volunteer with the Florida Association of Voluntary Action in the Caribbean. As a FAVA/CA volunteer she has led two groups of FIU faculty to the sister-island nation of St.Kitts and Nevis where they offered weeklong workshops and hands-on consultations for government HomeCare officers and other public and private healthcare personnel. She has also offered consultation to the University of the West Indies, St. Kitts Campus, towards the development of an associate level gerontology degree. And she has just returned from a FAVA/CA consultation in Jamaica, where she worked with University of the West Indies Medical Faculty in the design and development of a graduate level distance education programme in gerontology designed to be disseminated throughout the Caribbean. Dr. Elfenbein presented at the Caribbean Symposium on Population Aging in Trinidad, by the University of the West Indies and the Division for Ageing of the Ministry of Social Planning and Development, Trinidad and Tobago, and the ECLAC Sub-regional Headquarters for the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago).

Dr. Elfenbein also has had many externally funded programs and projects. To date, Dr. Elfenbein has been awarded more than $950,000 in elder health promotion and disease prevention program grants from funding sources that include USHUD, USAID, HHS Geriatric Education Centers, Hospice Foundation of America, and other public and private entities. Dr. Elfenbein's largest externally funded works to date have been: the design and implementation of interdisciplinary health promotion and health education programs at 11 Miami-Dade Housing Agency (US HUD) Senior/Disabled housing communities; and the development of program guidebooks to assist independent Cuban NGOs to develop health and social programming for older adults (USAID).

In an effort to personally work toward enhancing the health and well being of older adults, Dr. Elfenbein has become increasingly involved in the area of injury prevention, and as a member of the Florida Injury Prevention for Seniors (FLIPS) steering committee, has been able to impact the health and quality of life for seniors throughout the state.