Linda a Gerdner

Linda A. Gerdner PhD, RN, FAAN has dedicated her career to helping persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and the family members who care for them. She has conducted research to explore the perception, meaning and care of dementia within various ethnic groups such as African Americans living in the Arkansas Delta and Hmong Americans living in the Midwest. Most recently she served as an Ethnogeriatric Specialist at the Geriatric Education Center, School of Medicine, at Stanford...See more

Linda A. Gerdner PhD, RN, FAAN has dedicated her career to helping persons with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and the family members who care for them. She has conducted research to explore the perception, meaning and care of dementia within various ethnic groups such as African Americans living in the Arkansas Delta and Hmong Americans living in the Midwest. Most recently she served as an Ethnogeriatric Specialist at the Geriatric Education Center, School of Medicine, at Stanford University. She is widely published and has received national and international awards for her contributions. She pioneered the theory driven evidence-based protocol of Individualized Music for Persons with Dementia. Ethnicity is an inherent criterion in the assessment for this intervention. She is a co-editor of the third edition of the ground breaking book, Ethnicity and the Dementias published by Taylor and Francis. This would be her third illustrated book for children and family about Alzheimer's disease. Her first, Grandfather's Story Cloth (bilingual English/Hmong) was written as a culturally responsive learning resource for the Hmong American community. The second, Musical Memories, helps children and their families understand the cause of behaviors associated with Alzheimer's disease and use of music as a means of communication in reducing anxiety and agitation in persons with Alzheimer's disease. See less