chevron-down Created with Sketch Beta.
February 21, 2024

Advocates of Aging Podcast Ep. 3 An Interview With Sally Balch Hurme E. Carlisle Shealy Pamela B. Teaster and Erica F. Wood

In this episode, we are interviewing Sally Balch Hurme,  E. Carlisle Shealy,  Pamela B. Teaster and Erica F. Wood. We are discussing the results of their groundbreaking study: An Environmental Scan of Guardianship Abuse and Fraud. The interview can be accessed here.

Biographies of Interviewees

Sally Balch Hurme

Sally Balch Hurme, a Virginia elder law attorney, has led the national conversation on many of the legal issues of concern to older persons, their families, and their caregivers. Whether the issue is how to make decisions for others or plan for what comes next, she has focused on explaining the law so everyone can understand it.

Her broad experience includes working with AARP for 23 years, teaching elder law at George Washington University Law School, and lecturing with Great Courses on how to get your legal house in order. Hurme is the best-selling author of five books in the award-winning ABA/AARP Checklist series: Checklist for My Family, Checklist for Family Caregivers, Checklist for Family Survivors, Wise Moves, and Get the Most Out of Retirement. She has served multiple terms on the boards of the National Guardianship Association and the Center for Guardianship Certification.

Hurme received her B.A. from Newcomb College, Tulane University and her J.D. cum laude from Washington College of Law, American University. She resides in Bridgewater, Virginia, with her husband, four cats and two dogs.

E. Carlisle Shealy

E. Carlisle Shealy is the Assistant Director at the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech. She completed her graduate education at Virginia Tech earning her Master of Public Health in 2017 and a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning in 2021. While completing her Ph.D. she also earned the Graduate Certificate in Gerontology. Dr. Shealy has a deep interest in end-of-life decision making, surrogate decision making, and aging in place, specifically in rural areas. She has recently contributed to projects on elder abuse, advance care planning, and the exploration of diversity and inclusion among older women of faith. 

Pamela B. Teaster, Ph.D., M.A., M.S., NREMT
Professor and Director
Center for Gerontology
Virginia Tech

Pamela B. Teaster is a Professor and the Director of the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech. Dr. Teaster is a 2023-2024 Health and Aging Policy Fellow, a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, and a Fellow of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. She is a recipient of the Isabella Horton Grant Award for Guardianship (National College of Probate Judges), the Rosalie Wolf Award for Research on Elder Abuse (NAPSA), the Outstanding Affiliate Member Award (Kentucky Guardianship Association), and the Distinguished Educator Award (Kentucky Association for Gerontology). She has received funding from numerous public and private sources (e.g., National Institute on Aging, Department of Justice, Social Security Advisory Board, Administration for Community Living, Retirement Research Foundation, Greenwall Foundation). She has testified before such bodies as the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging (2018, guardianship) and the Virginia General Assembly (2021, elder abuse) and consulted for such entities as the Social Security Administration, Senate Committee on Aging, General Accounting Office, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Her areas of scholarship include the abuse of vulnerable adults (e.g., sexual abuse; financial and opioid exploitation, guardianship) surrogate decision making, end-of-life decision-making, ethical treatment of older adults, and public policy and public affairs). She has published over 250 scholarly and translational articles, reports, and book chapters and is the editor/author of 7 books. She is the Clerk and North American Representative of the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and a Past President of the National Committee for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the Center for Guardianship Certification. She serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Elder Abuse and Neglect and the Journal of Trauma, Violence, and Abuse Review. She is in her second term as a Commissioner for the American Bar Association for Law and Aging. She became a nationally registered EMT, licensed in the state of Virginia in September 2023.

Erica F. Wood

Erica F. Wood  served as assistant director of the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging, and was associated with the Commission from 1980 to 2020. She worked primarily on issues concerning adult guardianship, health and financial decision-making, legal services delivery, dispute resolution, health and long-term care, and access to court. She has participated in national studies on public guardianship and guardianship monitoring; played a role in convening national consensus conferences on guardianship; and directed a project on Working Interdisciplinary Networks of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS). 

Since her retirement from the ABA in 2020, she has consulted on a number of national guardianship projects, and engaged in state and local aging advocacy. Ms. Wood received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her J.D. from the George Washington University. In 2013 she received the Isabella Horton Grant Guardianship Award from the National College of Probate Judges. In 2016, she was appointed by the Virginia Governor to the Commonwealth Council on Aging. She has also served on the Virginia Center on Aging Board, the Virginia Public Guardianship and Conservatorship Advisory Board, and the Virginia Supreme Court WINGS.