Interests
Emi Kiyota, PhD
Environmental Gerontologist
We need to challenge the societal view of aging and the social role of elders through empowering and including them as change agents.
Current Work
Emi is an environmental gerontologist focused on international and community development. She creates socially integrated communities that value elders through her non-profit, Ibasho, and consults on the design of communities and cities.
Personal Hero
Her mentor, Dr. Gerald Weisman
Words of Strength
Compassionate, resilient, critical thinker
Vision
To reduce the scale and impact of dementia, we need to challenge the societal view of aging and the social role of elders through empowering and including them as change agents.
Strategy
Emi is working with community organizations and groups of elders to create an innovative program and community hub where elders can find opportunities to help other community members, instead of only been cared for by the younger generation.
Impact
As an Atlantic Fellow, Emi has deepened her knowledge and understanding of dementia from biomedical perspectives. Meeting up with passionate and dedicated colleagues from all over the world also adds a new level of understanding and empathy toward both elders with dementia and caregivers.
Motivation
Aging and dementia are pressing issues in Japan as the population of older-old is growing rapidly. A holistic and effective approach to help individuals with dementia stay in their own homes in their familiar environment plays a critical role.
Education & Experience
Emi Kiyota is an internationally recognized thought leader on issues relating to healthy aging. She is an environmental gerontologist and organizational culture change specialist. She is a frequent speaker at local, national, and international venues. She is currently considering how the work she did to empower elders in Japan as they recovered from the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 could provide lessons for empowering elders in the U.S. as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and better prepare for future events.
Awards & Honors
Dianna Davis Spencer Fellowship at the Global Good Fund Loeb Fellow Graduate School of Design at the Harvard University Rockefeller Foundation: Bellagio residency fellowship for social development Helen Bader Endowed Scholarship for Aging
