Community Advisory Board Members

  • Mark Kunik is Director of the VA South Central Mental Illness, Research, and Clinical Center, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. He is the Chief of the Behavioral Health and Implementation Program at the Houston VA Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety. His academic and clinical work has focused on the evaluation and treatment of older adults with cognitive, behavioral, and mood disturbances; aiming to improve the quality of life of older adults and their caregivers.

    Before practicing medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and the Houston VA Hospital, he completed BA in Psychology at the University of Texas, MD and psychiatry residency at Baylor College of Medicine, geriatric psychiatry fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh, and Masters in Public Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston.

    He is widely published, loves to mentor does his best to balance work and leisure. He is married to Mardi and has two boys, Illan and Max. Mark loves to attend live music concerts, garden, cook, exercise, and fish.

  • Cindy N. Kaigama is a thought leader who is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of all people and partners to reduce disparities for people who have experienced systemic generational marginalization. She currently serves as Director of Community Health at Children’s Minnesota. She was senior leader at Minnesota Community Care as Health Equity Design Partner. She was the regional Health Systems Director for the Alzheimer’s Association of MN- ND chapter. She executed systems and policy change for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin. She is a social entrepreneur and founder of SheBloomedCakes! and Healing Virtue, LLC; a social enterprise focused on improving health outcomes and reducing chronic disease.

    She was the Multicultural Initiatives Director at the American Heart Association for the state of Minnesota where she partnered with people and organizations to provide effective strategies that increased heart and brain health outcomes of statistically marginalized communities. Cindy brings over 20 years of experience as a solutions-driven leader, educator and health and human services professional. She is an experienced diabetes prevention lifestyle coach with the YMCA, and Live Empowered Instructor for the American Diabetes Association. Cindy is a champion of health equity and executes policy and system change to offer everyone a fair chance to attain their highest level of health.

    She also is an advocate for equitable education and motivated to develop culturally competent leaders in early childhood to higher education learning environments. Cindy serves on the Arizona State University, Supporting Dementia Caregivers After Death Community Advisory Board, African Immigrant Memory Loss Advisory Board, community advisory member for the University of Minnesota’s 10K Family Research Study, Move and Thrive community advisory board member and previous committee member for Minnesota Department of Human Services Integrated Care for High-Risk Pregnancies (ICHRP) Initiative. Cindy has served on several district committees in the Eden Prairie School district. She volunteered on the Hopkins Public School District Early Childhood Parent Advisory Committee from 2015-2018 focused on diversity and inclusion strategies for parents and students. She was the Regional Health Equity Coordinator for the Department of Health and Humans Services Minority Health division, 2017.

    Cindy was awarded Community Engagement recipient for the Women’s Health Leadership Trust in 2021 and Wellness Advocate winner of the Minnesota Business Magazine in 2017. She led as volunteer Diversity Chair for the Board of American College of Healthcare Executives, Minnesota Chapter, 2016-2017. She served as Adjunct professor at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, Graduate School of Health and Human Services, 2012-2015.

    She completed her first Master of Art in Human Development at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota and one year of coursework for a Master of Health and Human Services Administration at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Family Studies at Western Michigan University. Cindy is member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., Iota Zeta Zeta Minneapolis chapter and a member of the Women’s Health Leadership Trust.

  • Jeanne Bain is the director of Be Love Navigation, an organization that supports people in the difficult work and living and dying. She facilitates difficult conversations with families and communities around end-of-life, dementia, and, nervous system stress. She hopes that some day talking about death can be as easy for people as talking about the weather.

  • Nina Shepherd has held leadership roles in public relations, marketing, and communications at the University of Minnesota since 1987. Additionally, she served in media relations and editorial positions with General Mills, Inc., Weber Shandwick, Corporate Report Minnesota, and Twin Cities Magazine. She considers her biggest achievement to be the daughter of a loving family with a strong network of friends—beginning with her father, Preston, who passed away from complications related to dementia in 2019, and her mother Carrol, who currently suffers from the disease.

Emeritus Members

  • Helping others especially those in the aging process has been a passion of my life journey. I retired in 2013 from almost 30 years in the beer business working for Coors and MillerCoors. My focus areas in business were always around business processes and human performance. In the first year of retirement, I completed a one-year Gerontology Certificate program through the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. I have devoted the last decade of my life as my Mother's primary caregiver. She has Alzheimer's and resides in a Memory Care facility in South Texas and has been under hospice care for the past since 2021. I am also legal guardian for my 64-year-old developmentally disabled and blind Brother. He resides in an intermediary care facility and was introduced into hospice care in January 2023 due to a terminal liver cancer diagnosis. I have been blessed to care for these two "loves of my life" and am grateful for the grace each day to be grateful they are both still with us.

    Becoming part of the CAB has opened my eyes to a whole new world, one that I have embraced with enthusiasm, compassion, care, and kindness. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work together with a wonderful team of members.