Rita B. Choula, MA is the Senior Director of Caregiving at the AARP Public Policy Institute. In her role, she drives the development of family caregiving initiatives by providing content expertise, both within AARP and in partnership with a range of external collaborators. Her work bridges policy and research to practice, centered on identifying and supporting needs of diverse family caregivers.
In collaboration with clinical experts and key partners, Rita also leads the development of programs and tools that enable health care providers to better recognize the diverse needs of family caregivers and provide supports to them across settings.
She is driven to ensure systems are structured to meet the holistic needs of family caregivers by working to advance equitable, culturally-responsive policies and practices that elevate their unique experiences and enable them to manage their own wellbeing while providing care to others. Rita is moved to action by her personal experience as a family caregiver for her grandmother, as she aged and then her mother who lived with Frontotemporal Dementia, while working full-time and caring for two young children.