Colleen M. Casey, PhD, ANP-BC, CNS

Dr. Colleen Casey is Medical Director of the Senior Health program for the Oregon region at Providence Health & Services, as well as the Bain-Krantz Chair of Geriatrics. She maintains a small clinical practice in outpatient geriatrics with Providence Elderplace, which is a PACE (Program for All-Inclusive Care for Elders) program. "I am always inspired by my patients in the creative ways they persevere and take care of themselves, even in the face of adversity." Her care of individual patients is what "informs and makes real the work we are doing to help ensure that older adults get the care they need."
Dr. Casey’s leadership role at Providence includes identifying ways to streamline and improve care of older adults, with the program’s focus on the region’s effort to reduce fall risk for older adults and improve care for people with cognitive impairments and dementia. She is recognized nationally for her work in the area of fall risk research, has published numerous articles in this area, and serves as an advisor to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since 2018, she has also been the co-developer and co-director with Dr. Marian Hodges of the Providence Geriatric Mini-Fellowship, a 4-week curriculum that provides over 110 hours of education to selected Providence primary care providers (PCPs) and their teams to improve their care of older adults. As of 2023, the Geriatric Mini-Fellowship has graduated 30 primary care providers as geriatric champions within their clinics.
Dr. Casey received her first undergraduate from the University of Notre Dame and her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in nursing from Oregon Health & Science University. She also completed postgraduate work at the University of Washington in geriatrics. Her career in geriatrics started as a hospice CNA over 25 years ago and she was also a cardiac-surgical ICU nurse for 7 years during her graduate studies. Her research has been funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, Atlantic Philanthropies, the Hearst Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. She is board certified as an Adult Nurse Practitioner and also licensed as a geriatric Clinical Nurse Specialist. In her free time, Dr. Casey and her husband enjoy traveling and exploring the outdoors with their three children.