Page Title

The Alzheimer's Association
Brain Health and Healthy Aging Conference

Saturday, November 8, 2025

10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Sponsorship

Agenda

Speakers

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Join the Alzheimer's Association Illinois Chapter is it hosts a Brain Health and Healthy Aging Conference —an inspiring event packed with cutting-edge Alzheimer's research, expert insights, and essential resources to empower and support our community.

Listed below are some of the Illinois Facts and Figures from our new 2025 report.

There are an estimated 250,600 people in the sate of Illinois who are living with Alzheimer's.
There are over 311,000 caregivers for people living with dementia in the state of Illinois who provide 480,000,000 hours of unpaid care.
There are roughly 212 Geriatricians in the State of Illinois. The increase needed to meet the 2050 demand is 143.9%.
Roughly 4,025 people die from Alzheimer's in the state of Illinois per year. This ranks Alzheimer's disease as the 7th highest cause if death in Illinois.

LOCATION

Illinois Ballroom
1900 S 1st St
Champaign, IL 61820

By attending the Conference, we have the opportunity to bring together over 100 individuals from the general public including students, caregivers, people living with dementia, families and other healthcare professionals to learn about the latest in Alzheimer's and dementia research and the Association's role in driving and leading global research initiatives. We are also able to provide the attendees with information, tools and resources that they need.

AGENDA

8:00 am - 9:15 am

Vendor Set Up

11:25 am- 12:00 pm

Recent Advancements in Care- Dr. Daniel Llano

9:45 am- 10:15 am

Check in time

12:00 pm- 12:15 pm

Break

10:15 am- 10:30 am

12:20 pm- 12:45 pm

Conference Introduction- MC (Scott Burnsmier)

Lunch/Our Journey- Nick Hibbs

10:30 am- 10:45 am

12:50 pm- 1:15 pm

AA Facts and Figures, along with Strategic Plan- Delia Jervier

Stress Busters For Caregivers- Sheila Greuel

10:50 am- 11:20 am

1:20 pm- 2:00 pm

10 Healthy Habits For Your Brain and Body- Liz Sullard

Panel Discussion and Questions- Liz Sullard, Dr. Llano, Nick Hibbs, Sheila Greuel

speakers

SPEAKERS

Caiti lives in Bloomington with her husband, 2 kids, 2 cats and dog. She graduated from Illinois State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Social Work. She worked as a Case Manager for Community Care Systems, Inc from the time she graduated until 2016, working to keep low-income seniors in their homes with the help of in-home services. From there she worked for OSF as their Non-Clinical Skilled Nursing Facility Liaison. She worked hand in hand with the Nurse Practitioner on staff, helping patients in nursing homes within OSF's preferred network transition back home with home health. She then started working in Hospice for Traditions Health in May of 2023. Throughout her life she’s held various caregiving roles, including professionally. She is a caregiver through Synergy Home Care and personally helps care for her father following a decline in his health in 2021.

Hadi has been a staff member of the Alzheimer’s Association since 2013, as our Senior Manager of Education and Community Volunteers and one of our Regions Research Champions. Hadi’s grandmother had Alzheimer’s and as a caregiver and friend, Hadi knows the pain and frustration of this disease. Hadi strives to make an impact on her community and families by sharing her own personal experiences with Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on the successes that can be had, despite the struggles.

Megan Wood is a Senior Staff Attorney with Prairie State Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm serving 36 counties in Northern and Central Illinois. She has worked at PSLS since 2011, representing low-income clients in issues that impact safety, housing, and financial stability. Her current project focuses on legal assistance and legal education for older adults. She received her BA in 2006 from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her JD cum laude in 2009 from University of Illinois College of Law. Megan lives in Bloomington with her husband Steve and their three daughters.

Delia Jervier, is the Region 9 Vice President and Illinois Chapter Executive of the Alzheimer’s Association, the global leader in Alzheimer’s and dementia care, support and research.

Since joining the Alzheimer’s Association back in 2013, Delia has held several roles, highlighting her increasing leadership within the organization and the cause. As director of chapter operations, she successfully managed a portfolio of chapters ahead of the merger. She moved to Texas in 2017, to become the executive director of the Capital of Texas Chapter. Under her leadership, the chapter’s overall revenue increased by 400% and the board of the newly emerged chapter was rebuilt. To expand community engagement Delia worked diligently to secure relationships with organizations to support D&I goals, including the Austin Urban League and the Mexican Consulate.

Delia Joined the Illinois chapter as Executive Director in 2020 and has been instrument in elevating the visibility and reach of the organization in the Chicagoland community. In 2021, Delia was named one of Crain’s 2021 Notable Black Leaders and Executives for reaching a prominent place in nonprofit and lifting her community.

Prior to joining the Association, Delia held various leadership positions in the nonprofit sector. Launching her career as executive director of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida before joining the American Diabetes Association in 1996. Over the next 17 years, Delia served in various leadership roles, including executive director of Central Florida.

Scott is a Major Gift Officer for the University of Illinois Extension at the Urbana-Champaign Campus. He has been married to his wife Sandy for 27 years. She is a pediatric nurse at Carle, and they share two children and a bonus daughter. His son Ian resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Natalie aka bonus daughter. His Daughter Grace just finished her LPN and will bridge to the RN program at Parkland College in Champaign. In 2023 Scott and his wife Sandy welcomed their first Grandchild Isaac. In his spare time. Scott coaches and mentors’ various athletes including military personnel. Scott currently serves as a committee member for the Champaign Urbana Walk and his family has had a team for four years.

The journey for the Burnsmier family started back in 2008. Scott states, “All I could think about was my mother, Dorothy Key, who was my hero and a strong-willed person, who raised three kids on her own, is in for the fight of her life. I immediately started finding out what I could when we started the journey in 2008. Alzheimer’s, what is it? What will happen to our mother? We took the dreaded journey of getting answers from the Neurologist. He went through tons of tests and explained what was ahead.”

Scott shares, as the disease progressed, the first few years were normal. However, year four was met with challenges as mom found a painful lump in her breast that was stage one breast cancer. We immediately scheduled not only her Neurology appointments, but we also had Oncology and radiation treatments as well. During this challenging time with mom, we were dealt with the devastating news that my father-in-law Dean was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and his journey would last for the next six years until he passed in 2018, just 63 days after mom. The mantra for us was always to stay positive and support our parents. In life you have a choice, get bitter or get better. We choose better to reflect the spirit of our parents. That is why I joined the Board to advocate and better the next family in the fight against Alzheimer’s.