Assistant Professor
Takashi Amano is an assistant professor at the Department of Social Work, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University – Newark. From a biopsychosocial lens, his research is focused on understanding and supporting the lives of vulnerable older adults, especially those with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). He has three specific research agendas. First, his research aims to support the lives of people with cognitive impairment and ADRD by untangling the reciprocal relationship between social engagement and cognitive impairment and ADRD. Second, based on the social constructionist model, his research is geared toward identifying socially and culturally constructed barriers to activity, participation, and access to support for people with cognitive impairment and ADRD. Third, my research agenda focuses on inequality in implementation, accessibility, and availability of long-term supports and services for people with cognitive impairment and ADRD.
His personal experience with his grandmother and professional experience as a researcher and social worker shaped his passion for supporting people with ADRD and their family members. He pursued a Master’s Degree in Social Work at the University of Southern Indiana and completed his two practicum opportunities at a nursing home and a community counseling center for older adults. After graduation, he went back to Japan and worked at the Dia Foundation for Research on Aging and Keio University School of Medicine, as an assistant researcher. He also worked as a social worker at a community center for home and community-based care for older adults. Before joining Rutgers, Dr. Amano earned his PhD from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.