Ruth Finkelstein, ScD, is the Rose Dobrof Executive Director of the Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College as well as a professor at the School of Urban Public Health. Dr. Finkelstein joined Hunter College in 2018 and is leading Brookdale in promoting opportunities for everyone to age as well as anyone can. Hunter College became the first major public institution in the U.S. to join the Global Network of Age Friendly Universities under her leadership. She has also begun grant-funded projects on home sharing, expanding access to meaningful arts engagement for older adults, creating policy focused on older workers, and developing a financial exploitation prevention strategy for financial institutions. Dr. Finkelstein has led numerous award-winning aging initiatives, including the Columbia Aging Center’s Age Smart Employer Awards; Exceeding Expectations, a digital narrative following New Yorkers over 80; and the New York Academy of Medicine’s Age-Friendly New York City, winner of the “Best Age Friendly Initiative in the World” prize in 2012. Dr. Finkelstein has won other recognition, including receipt of the 2019 Maggie Kuhn Award and being named a 2016 Influencer in Aging and one of City and State’s 2020 Outstanding Women. Before transitioning to aging, Dr. Finkelstein conducted policy-relevant HIV research (publishing 50+ papers), with particular focus on drug users and medication adherence. She has a doctorate in health policy from the Johns Hopkins school of public health, a MA in medical anthropology from Case Western Reserve, and a BA from the University of Michigan. Download her CV here.
