Kathleen Smith

Kathleen O’Toole Smith joined WAI in 2013 to lead a statewide outreach program to discover and share innovative dementia friendly best practices, resources and information to benefit people living with dementia and their caregivers. The program engages professionals and volunteers in 72 counties and 11 Wisconsin tribes and provides educational events, best practices guides and collaboration between network partners.

In April 2021, Kathleen began a new role as the BOLD Grant Project Manager. The BOLD grant released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a public health approach to addressing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Building Our Largest Dementia Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s disease (BOLD) is a three year grant (2020-2023), and in Wisconsin it includes 13 projects and 21 strategies. Kathleen has worked in support of the UW School of Medicine and Public Health since 1997.