Jane Straker, Ph.D., first came to Scripps as Acting Assistant to the Director in 1984. Following a brief leave to complete her doctorate degree, Straker returned to Oxford in 1993 and has been at Miami ever since.

Working the last 29 years at Scripps Gerontology Center, Straker led 43 funded research projects. Straker’s research contributions include: 33 publications, 7 books and chapters and 72 reports.  She has also given 129 professional presentations during her career, while maintaining membership in professional organizations and serving on several community organization boards.

“Jane has been an incredible leader and mentor for the Scripps research staff. She has generously dedicated her time, knowledge, and experience to helping us each grow professionally and to helping Scripps grow as an organization,” said Associate Director of Research and Senior Research Scholar Jennifer Heston-Mullins.

Straker is a nationally recognized expert on studies designed to gather input directly from older people. She was one of the architects of Ohio’s Long-Term Care Consumer Guide, designing the resident and family survey that provides information to potential residents and their families across the state. As part of that study, Straker and her team routinely collect data from more than 30,000 family members of Ohio’s long-term care residents. Her resident and family surveys have also been expanded to home care recipients, making Straker’s work well known across the nation.  

“Jane has become a national leader on hearing the voices of consumers, especially older individuals with disability,” Director of the Ohio Long-Term Care Research Project and Scripps Research Fellow Robert Applebaum said. “She works each day to make sure that every person is able to provide input about the quality of their care experience. She has helped to improve the quality of care across long-term care settings by making sure the views of residents count.”

Straker’s last day at the University will be June 30. Following retirement, Straker looks forward to spending more time with her family and getting away from the cold next winter.

“I’m going to miss Scripps. It’s been a very rewarding career and the people have been great,” said Straker. “But I'm looking forward to something new that has a little more freedom and starts a little later in the morning!”