Jennifer Merrilees, RN, PhD

Clinical Nurse Specialist in Geriatrics
+1 415 476-8845
Fields of Interest: 

Jennifer Merrilees received her doctorate degree in nursing from the University of California, San Francisco. She is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Geriatrics at the Memory and Aging Center and Associate Clinical Professor for the UCSF School of Nursing.

Jennifer’s work focuses on family caregivers, management of dementia-related behavioral symptoms, and the design and implementation of care models that support people with dementia and their family caregivers. She co-founded a nurse-run clinic focused on dementia behavior management. She is a lead researcher for the Care Ecosystem, a model of supportive dementia care that is being implemented at several sites around the country. Jennifer is co-investigator for NIH-funded projects that seek to characterize the nature of emotions experienced by dementia family caregivers. She co-leads an oral history project, hear/say, that focuses on collecting personal stories about the experience of aging, dementia and caregiving.

Publications: 

Outcome measures for Alzheimer's disease: A global inter-societal Delphi consensus.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Ellison TS, Cappa SF, Garrett D, Georges J, Iwatsubo T, Kramer JH, Lehmann M, Lyketsos C, Maier AB, Merrilees J, Morris JC, Naismith SL, Nobili F, Pahor M, Pond D, Robinson L, Soysal P, Vandenbulcke M, Weber CJ, Visser PJ, Weiner M, Frisoni GB

Evaluating In-home Assistive Technology for Dementia Caregivers.

Clinical gerontologist

Levenson RW, Chen KH, Levan DT, Chen EY, Newton SL, Paul D, Yee CI, Brown CL, Merrilees J, Moss D, Wang G

The Care Ecosystem: The Effectiveness and Implementation of Telephone-Based Collaborative Dementia Care.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Possin KL, Sideman AB, Dulaney S, Lee K, Merrilees J, Bonasera S, Chiong W, Hooper SM, Kiekhofer R, Robinson-Teran J, Allen IE, Braley T, Guterman E, Rosa TD, Harrison KL, Hunt L, Kahn JG, Lanata S, Miller BL, LaRoche A, Sawyer RJ, Brungardt A, Lum H, Hess M, Ward K, Kuebrich MB, Hodges M, Olney N, Barclay M, Rosenbloom MH

Effect of collaborative dementia care on potentially inappropriate medication use: Outcomes from the Care Ecosystem randomized clinical trial.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Liu AK, Possin KL, Cook KM, Lynch S, Dulaney S, Merrilees JJ, Braley T, Kiekhofer RE, Bonasera SJ, Allen IE, Chiong W, Clark AM, Feuer J, Ewalt J, Guterman EL, Gearhart R, Miller BL, Lee KP

Pronoun Use among Caregivers of People Living with Dementia: Associations with Dementia Severity Using Text Analysis of a Natural Language Sample.

Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders extra

Bernstein Sideman A, Wells JL, Merrilees J, Shdo SM, Yee CI, Possin KL, Levenson RW

Lower activity linkage between caregivers and persons with neurodegenerative diseases is associated with greater caregiver anxiety.

Psychophysiology

Chen KH, Casey JJ, Connelly DE, Merrilees J, Yang CM, Miller BL, Levenson RW

Responding to the Needs of Persons Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons From the Care Ecosystem.

Innovation in aging

Merrilees J, Robinson-Teran J, Allawala M, Dulaney S, Rosenbloom M, Lum HD, Sawyer RJ, Possin KL, Bernstein Sideman A

"Captive by the Uncertainty"-Experiences with Anticipatory Guidance for People Living with Dementia and Their Caregivers at a Specialty Dementia Clinic.

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD

Shafir A, Ritchie CS, Garrett SB, Bernstein Sideman A, Naasan G, Merrilees J, Widera E, Flint L, Harrison KL

The severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms is higher in early-onset than late-onset Alzheimer's Disease.

European journal of neurology

Falgàs N, Allen IE, Spina S, Grant H, Piña Escudero SD, Merrilees J, Gearhart R, Rosen HJ, Kramer JH, Seeley WW, Neylan TC, Miller BL, Rabinovici GD, Grinberg LT, Walsh CM

Use of Services by People Living Alone With Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.

Innovation in aging

Rosenwohl-Mack A, Dubbin L, Chodos A, Dulaney S, Fang ML, Merrilees J, Portacolone E

Emotion Recognition and Reactivity in Persons With Neurodegenerative Disease Are Differentially Associated With Caregiver Health.

The Gerontologist

Brown CL, Wells JL, Hua AY, Chen KH, Merrilees J, Miller BL, Levenson RW

Long-term digital device-enabled monitoring of functional status: Implications for management of persons with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)

Manley NA, Bayen E, Braley TL, Merrilees J, Clark AM, Zylstra B, Schaffer M, Bayen AM, Possin KL, Miller BL, Schenk AK, Bonasera SJ

Using care navigation to address caregiver burden in dementia: A qualitative case study analysis.

Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)

Bernstein A, Merrilees J, Dulaney S, Harrison KL, Chiong W, Ong P, Heunis J, Choi J, Walker R, Feuer JE, Lee K, Dohan D, Bonasera SJ, Miller BL, Possin KL

Effect of Collaborative Dementia Care via Telephone and Internet on Quality of Life, Caregiver Well-being, and Health Care Use: The Care Ecosystem Randomized Clinical Trial.

JAMA internal medicine

Possin KL, Merrilees JJ, Dulaney S, Bonasera SJ, Chiong W, Lee K, Hooper SM, Allen IE, Braley T, Bernstein A, Rosa TD, Harrison K, Begert-Hellings H, Kornak J, Kahn JG, Naasan G, Lanata S, Clark AM, Chodos A, Gearhart R, Ritchie C, Miller BL

Association Between Caregiver Depression and Emergency Department Use Among Patients With Dementia.

JAMA neurology

Guterman EL, Allen IE, Josephson SA, Merrilees JJ, Dulaney S, Chiong W, Lee K, Bonasera SJ, Miller BL, Possin KL

Genuine Smiles by Patients During Marital Interactions are Associated with Better Caregiver Mental Health.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences

Lwi SJ, Casey JJ, Verstaen A, Connelly DE, Merrilees J, Levenson RW, Knight BG

Variations in Costs of a Collaborative Care Model for Dementia.

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Rosa TD, Possin KL, Bernstein A, Merrilees J, Dulaney S, Matuoka J, Lee KP, Chiong W, Bonasera SJ, Harrison KL, Kahn JG

The costs of dementia subtypes to California Medicare fee-for-service, 2015.

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association

Chen Y, Wilson L, Kornak J, Dudley RA, Merrilees J, Bonasera SJ, Byrne CM, Lee K, Chiong W, Miller BL, Possin KL

Randomized controlled trial of a facilitated online positive emotion regulation intervention for dementia caregivers.

Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association

Moskowitz JT, Cheung EO, Snowberg KE, Verstaen A, Merrilees J, Salsman JM, Dowling GA

The Role of Care Navigators Working with People with Dementia and Their Caregivers.

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD

Bernstein A, Harrison KL, Dulaney S, Merrilees J, Bowhay A, Heunis J, Choi J, Feuer JE, Clark AM, Chiong W, Lee K, Braley TL, Bonasera SJ, Ritchie C, Dohan D, Miller BL, Possin KL

The Care Ecosystem: Promoting self-efficacy among dementia family caregivers.

Dementia (London, England)

Merrilees JJ, Bernstein A, Dulaney S, Heunis J, Walker R, Rah E, Choi J, Gawlas K, Carroll S, Ong P, Feuer J, Braley T, Clark AM, Lee K, Chiong W, Bonasera SJ, Miller BL, Possin KL

Empathic Accuracy Deficits in Patients with Neurodegenerative Disease: Association with Caregiver Depression.

The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Brown CL, Lwi SJ, Goodkind MS, Rankin KP, Merrilees J, Miller BL, Levenson RW

Development of an adaptive, personalized, and scalable dementia care program: Early findings from the Care Ecosystem.

PLoS medicine

Possin KL, Merrilees J, Bonasera SJ, Bernstein A, Chiong W, Lee K, Wilson L, Hooper SM, Dulaney S, Braley T, Laohavanich S, Feuer JE, Clark AM, Schaffer MW, Schenk AK, Heunis J, Ong P, Cook KM, Bowhay AD, Gearhart R, Chodos A, Naasan G, Bindman AB, Dohan D, Ritchie C, Miller BL

Non-pharmacological Management of Behavioral Symptoms in Frontotemporal and Other Dementias.

Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing)

Barton C, Ketelle R, Merrilees J, Miller B

The Impact of Dementia on Family Caregivers: What Is Research Teaching Us?

Current neurology and neuroscience reports

Merrilees J

Non-pharmacological Management of Behavioral Symptoms in Frontotemporal and Other Dementias.

Current neurology and neuroscience reports

Barton C, Ketelle R, Merrilees J, Miller B

Evaluating and treating neurobehavioral symptoms in professional American football players: Lessons from a case series.

Neurology. Clinical practice

Gardner RC, Possin KL, Hess CP, Huang EJ, Grinberg LT, Nolan AL, Cohn-Sheehy BI, Ghosh PM, Lanata S, Merrilees J, Kramer JH, Berger MS, Miller BL, Yaffe K, Rabinovici GD

Criminal behavior in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease.

JAMA neurology

Liljegren M, Naasan G, Temlett J, Perry DC, Rankin KP, Merrilees J, Grinberg LT, Seeley WW, Englund E, Miller BL

Life enhancing activities for family caregivers of people with frontotemporal dementia.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

Dowling GA, Merrilees J, Mastick J, Chang VY, Hubbard E, Moskowitz JT

Sleep in persons with frontotemporal dementia and their family caregivers.

Nursing research

Merrilees J, Hubbard E, Mastick J, Miller BL, Dowling GA

Memantine in patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration: a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

The Lancet. Neurology

Boxer AL, Knopman DS, Kaufer DI, Grossman M, Onyike C, Graf-Radford N, Mendez M, Kerwin D, Lerner A, Wu CK, Koestler M, Shapira J, Sullivan K, Klepac K, Lipowski K, Ullah J, Fields S, Kramer JH, Merrilees J, Neuhaus J, Mesulam MM, Miller BL

Characterization of apathy in persons with frontotemporal dementia and the impact on family caregivers.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

Merrilees J, Dowling GA, Hubbard E, Mastick J, Ketelle R, Miller BL

The experience of caregiving: differences between behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease.

The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry

Wong C, Merrilees J, Ketelle R, Barton C, Wallhagen M, Miller B

Trajectories of behavioral disturbance in dementia.

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD

Chow TW, Fridhandler JD, Binns MA, Lee A, Merrilees J, Rosen HJ, Ketelle R, Miller BL

Cognitive and behavioral challenges in caring for patients with frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis : official publication of the World Federation of Neurology Research Group on Motor Neuron Diseases

Merrilees J, Klapper J, Murphy J, Lomen-Hoerth C, Miller BL

Rest-activity and behavioral disruption in a patient with frontotemporal dementia.

Neurocase

Merrilees J, Hubbard E, Mastick J, Miller BL, Dowling GA

An open-label study of memantine treatment in 3 subtypes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

Boxer AL, Lipton AM, Womack K, Merrilees J, Neuhaus J, Pavlic D, Gandhi A, Red D, Martin-Cook K, Svetlik D, Miller BL

A model for management of behavioral symptoms in frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

Merrilees J

Long-term care of patients with frontotemporal dementia.

Journal of the American Medical Directors Association

Merrilees JJ, Miller BL