Biography

Dr. Walter Dawson studies the public policy implications of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias including the financial impact on families and the public programs that finance care. His specific research interests include global health policy, long-term services and supports financing, and interventions to better support people living with dementia including improved cognitive screening and dementia detection.

In addition to an appointment at the OHSU School of Medicine, Dr. Dawson is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health with the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) and faculty at Portland State University’s Institute on Aging. He also is the founder and Co-Director of the Oregon Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Aging (OCEBHA). Dr. Dawson has extensive direct experience in national and state-level public policy. As staff at the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, he worked on provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase access to long-term services and supports. Dr. Dawson is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Publications

Dawson W, Mattek N, Gothard S, Kaye J, & Lindauer A (2024). Ascertaining Out-of-Pocket Costs of Dementia Care: Feasibility Study of a Web-Based Weekly Survey. JMIR Formative Research, 8, e56878.

Gelmon S, Reed J, & Dawson W (2024). Priorities to Support Care Partners of People Living with Dementia: Results of a Modified Delphi Process. Journal of Applied Gerontology. 7334648241297130. Advance online publication.

Dawson W, Booi B, Pintado-Caipa M, Okada de Oliveira M, Kornhuber A, Spoden N, Golonka Shallcross L, Davidziuk A, Cominetti MA, Manríquez M, Kochhann R, Robertson I, Eyre H, & Ibáñez A (2023). The Brain Health Diplomat’s Toolkit: Supporting Brain Health Diplomacy Leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, 28(100627).

Eyre H, Stirland L, Jeste D, Reynolds C, Berk M, Ibañez A, Dawson W, Lawlor B, Leroi I, Yaffe K, Gatchel J, Karp J, Newhouse P, Rosand J, Letourneau N, Bayen E, Farina F, Booi L, Devanand DP, Mintzer J, Madigan S, Jayapurwala I, Wong STC, Falcoa VP, Cummings JL, Reichman W, Lock SL, Bennett M, Ahuja R, Steffens DC, Elkind M, & Lavretsky H. (2023). Life-Course Brain Health as a Determinant of Late-Life Mental Health: American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Expert Panel Recommendations. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 31(12), 1017-1031.

Dawson W, Smith E, Booi L, Mosse M, Lavretsky H, Reynolds CF, Cummings J, Brannally P, Hynes W, Lenze EJ, Manes F, Ayadi R, Frank L, Chapman SB, Robertson IH, Rubenstein L, Jraissati J, Ibañez A, Fillit H, Jeste DV, Rao A, Berk M, Storch EA, Chadha AS, & Eyre H (2022). Investing in Late-Life Brain Capital. Innovations in Aging, 6(3): igac016.

Dawson W, Boucher N, Stone R, & Van Houtven C (2021). COVID-19: The Time for Collaboration between Long-Term Services and Supports, Health Care Systems and Public Health is Now. The Milbank Quarterly, 99(2):565-594.

Dawson W, Bobrow K, Ibáñez A, Booi L, Pintado-Caipa M, Yamamoto S, Tarnanas I, Evans T, Comas-Herrera A, Cummings J, Kaye J, Yaffe K, Miller B, & Eyre H (2020). The Necessity of Diplomacy in Brain Health. The Lancet Neurology, 19(12):972–974.

Dawson W, Bangerter L, & Splaine M (2020). The Politics of Caregiving: Taking Stock of State Level Policies to Support Family Caregivers. Public Policy & Aging Report, 30(2): 62-66.