Linda Gerdner

Linda A. Gerdner PhD, RN, FAAN pioneered the development of individualized music for persons with dementia (such as Alzheimer’s disease). She began this work in the early 1990s and has won national and international awards for her contributions. Her work has been the impetus for further testing by researchers and clinicians across

the globe.

She developed an evidence-based protocol for the use of music in this population, now in its 6th edition. "Musical Memories" incorporates basic principles of this protocol to empower Gabrielle in maintaining a relationship with her grandmother. See website listed below for free resources to enhance the educational value of "Musical Memores."

https://gerdnerlinda.wixsite.com/musicalmemories

--------------------------------

Linda A Gerdner PhD, RN, FAAN is a former Ethnogeriatric Specialist for the Geriatric Education Center at Stanford University. Her overall focus of research is family caregiving issues in persons with dementia (i.e. Alzheimer’s disease). A portion of these efforts have focused on family caregiving issues of Hmong American elders with dementia and other forms of chronic illness. To provide a deeper understanding of the culture, in 2002, Dr. Gerdner visited three Hmong villages located in Xieng Khouang, a rural province in northern Laos. During her travels she also visited the sole remaining Hmong refugee settlement, at Wat Tham Krabok, in Thailand. Findings from her research in the United States indicated the need for culturally responsive teaching materials on the topic of Alzheimer’s disease. As a beginning effort, she is the first author of a bilingual picture book, Grandfather’s Story Cloth, for Hmong American children and their families. This book has received 6 national and international awards and honors. As part of her research with chronic illness she also spent ten years working with a variety of shamans, care recipients, family members; and attended a variety of shamanic healing ceremonies. This lead to the comprehensive, cutting edge publication, Demystifying Hmong Shamanism: Practice and Use by Hmong Americans Across the Lifespan. Her interest in the Hmong culture also lead to a large collection of textile folk art that resulted in publication of Hmong Story Cloths: Preserving Historical and Cultural Treasures. This book was nominated for the R. L. Shep Book Award for Ethnic Textile Studies. More recently, she is a co-editor with Drs. Gwen Yeo and Dolores Gallagher-Thompson for Ethnicity and the Dementias (3rd Edition).