Peter A. Lichtenberg, Ph.D. is the Director of both the Institute of Gerontology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute and the Founding Director of the Wayne State University Lifespan Alliance. Dr. Lichtenberg is also a Professor of Psychology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is a clinical psychologist and obtained his Ph.D. at Purdue University in 1986 and completed post doctoral training in geriatric neuropsychology from the University of Virginia. Dr. Lichtenberg received his diplomate in Rehabilitation Psychology in 1997. Dr.Lichtenberg has been at Wayne State University since 1991 first as the Associate Director of Psychology at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan and since 1998 as the Director of the Institute of Gerontology.

Thomas B. Jankowski, Ph.D., is Associate Director for Research at both the Institute of Gerontology and the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute. He received his bachelors degree in political science from Michigan State University, where he was a National Merit Scholar, and earned his masters and doctoral degrees from Wayne State University's Department of Poltical Science, where he was a Thomas C. Rumble Graduate Fellow and a Steven B. Sarasohn Dissertation Fellow.  Prior to entering academia, Dr. Jankowski worked in electoral politics as a campaign manager and director, and in government as a legislative aide in the Michigan House of Representatives.