Christina Marsack-Topolewski, LMSW, PhD is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Michigan and an Associate Professor of Social Work at Eastern Michigan University. Her educational backgrounds are in Special Education, Social Work, and Gerontology. She has 20 years of experience supporting individuals with disabilities and their family caregivers. Dr. Marsack-Topolewski has published over 80 scholarly articles and encyclopedia entries on disability, family caregiving, dementia, and aging. She is an appointed board member of the U.S. National Task Group (NTG) on Intellectual Disability and Dementia Practices. Her research has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and ABC News Detroit and she also has provided expert testimony advocating for legal provisions to protect vulnerable populations-- the first of these was signed into law in Michigan in 2023. In 2024, she received the Ronald W. Collins Distinguished Research Award for Research Excellence and the Arc of Oakland County’s Advocacy Hall of Fame Award.