Current Membership Biographies

Roger Moore, NHA
Chair, MCAAE
Roger earned a B.A. in Business from Evergreen State College in 1986 and has 15 years experience in the long-term care industry. A licensed Nursing Home Administrator for the past 10 years, Roger is currently the Administrator of Leon Sullivan Health Care Center in Seattle. In addition to being a part of the MCAAE, Roger is also on the Board of Directors for Cancer Lifeline. Roger brings a wealth of health care knowledge and skills to the MCAAE, as well as a commitment to providing quality health care services to the geriatric community in the Seattle-King County area.

Sherry Catlett-Jones, LPN
Vice Chair, MCAAE
Sherry is a native Seattleite with over 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry. She earned her BA in Health Services Administration and her Licensed Practical Nurse license from the ARMY reserves. She currently works as the Clinical Operations Manager for Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic. In her spare time, she works with a company she started that specializes in long-term caregiver training and consumer education seminars. Sherry is also the founder of the Oakland Jazz Foundation which addresses the medical needs of jazz musicians, many of whom are elderly and African American.

Dorothy Wiitala
Secretary, MCAAE
Dorothy is currently works as an actress and model. She has been acting age 15, and has been in the modeling business for over 15 years. Dorothy is aware of aging issues as she witnesses the challenges faced by her own aging parents. Dorothy received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications from Western Washington University. She is a proud mother of three children, ages 14, 10 and 8 years old.

Merlin Rainwater, ARNP
Treasurer, MCAAE
Merlin has worked as a Registered Nurse for the past 25 years. Her areas of interest are in home-based health services and end-of-life care. She earned her Masters of Nursing from the University of Washington in the specialty area of Home Health Nurse Practitioner. Her Master’s thesis is entitled, “Support at the End of Life in Seattle’s African American Churches.” She is one of the founders of the Diversity Outreach Project of Providence Hospice of Seattle, where she works as Nurse Case Manager with the Rainier Care Team, providing in home hospice care in Central and South Seattle.

Margaret Boddie, Director – African American Elders Program
Margaret Boddie retired from the City of Seattle, Aging and Disability Services, Case Management Program, as a Human Services Program Supervisor for 22 years. She provided administrative and clinical supervision of case managers, nurses, graduate students and social service aides. She also provided technical assistance, and training on case management to numerous social service agencies, locally and throughout Washington State. Margaret has developed and designed curriculum on Supervision and presented at conferences throughout the United States. Margaret is currently the Program Director for the African American Elders Program at Catholic Community Services.

Ms. Boddie has received many awards on excellence in Leadership, and Innovation. She also attended and received certificates in the following programs: City of Seattle’s Advanced Management, and Supervisory Development Programs. She also attended and received a certificate from the National Leadership Institute on Aging, Leadership Development Program at the University of Colorado.

Ms. Boddie is a graduate of the University of Washington and the University of Nebraska in Counseling, administration, and secondary education. She is a Registered Counselor, and a Marriage and Family Therapist, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the School Anthropology, and director of the African American Elders Program.

George Dicks, BA, GMHS, RCMHP
George Dicks currently supervises the Geriatric Psychiatry Service clinic at Harborview Mental Health Services. The clinic provides psychiatric services to the greater Seattle community, including the African American community. George has also been a faculty member at the University of Washington, School of Social Work, and at the Edmonds Community College in the Social & Health Sciences Department, teaching courses on Gerontology, Psychiatric Consultation, and Mental Health. George has been actively involved with the African American community for over twenty years through a variety of groups and organizations. George’s motivation for being on the Council is to inform the community about mental health for successful aging.

Juana Royster, Ph.D., CFCS
Juana earned her Doctorate Degree in Higher Education from the University of Washington. She is currently a Community Health Educator with the Washington State University Extension (WSUE). Juana manages the WSUE Diabetes Education Program which targets people who have or are at-risk of diabetes and its complications in King County. Juana also has vast experiences in program development, conducting education programs, training, and program evaluation. Through her work, Juana has established valuable relationships with WSU and the African American community.

Charlotte Ruff, RN
Charlotte is a retired registered nurse, formerly employed with the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health. She has worked in the field of public health for over 20 years in Washington and in California. She also taught community health nursing for 10 years at the University of Washington and at Seattle Pacific University. In her position as a Health Services Supervisor in the Department of Public Health, she helped establish the nursing guidelines for the AAEP, and supervised the first public health nurse assigned to the project. Charlotte is actively involved with seniors in the community through involvement with her church, sorority, the Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization, and committees of several other community organizations.

Jonathan Warren, M.A., Ph.D.
Jonathan has been an Associate Professor of Latin American and International Studies, at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, at the University of Washington for the past seven years. He currently serves as Chair and Director of Latin American Studies. He has published widely on questions of racial formations and antiracism in the Americas – with special attention to the African Diaspora. Jonathan has expertise with matters of quotidian and structural racism and how it affects African Americans in general, including the elderly. He has also worked as a consultant for a number of years for LaSalle Equity Group, a business that builds and manages assisted living facilities for individuals with dementia.