Nursing Staff 

Deborah Olasin Fontaine, M.S, G.N.P., is a B.S.N. graduate of Cedar Crest College in Allentown, PA.  After practicing in Philadelphia for several years, she attended Boston University.  There she became a Nurse Practitioner and received her M.S. in Gerontology.  She is AMA certified and has, since joining the ADRC in 1992, concentrated on working with AD, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and other movement disorders

Susan M. Frye, N.P., certified by the ANA, has worked at the ADRC since 1992.  She earned her B.S.N. & M.S. in Nursing from the University of Delaware and B.S. (in Neurobiology and Behavior) from Cornell University.

Mary Margaret Pay, G.N.P., received her degree in Nursing from Madonna University in Livonia Michigan and her Nurse Practitioner degree from the University of Michigan.  Prior to joining the ADRC in 1984, she worked in a state facility for psychiatric disorders.  She provided admission assessments as well as annual evaluations, which included neurological exams, for an adult population that included geriatric patients.  This experience provided a great background for the development of the nursing role in research at the ADRC.    

Judith A. Rivera, N.P., certified Family Nurse Practitioner, has worked at the ADRC since 1997.  She received her B.S.N. in Nursing from San Diego State University, and M.S.N. from University of San Diego.  Bilingual/bicultural and fluent in Spanish, Judith has more than 10 years of experience in nursing and assisting research patients and families in San Diego.

Helen Vanderswag, R.N., earned an Associate degree at Palomar College and B.A. from the University of Phoenix . She joined the ADRC in 2002.   In her 22 years of nursing experience she has worked in psychiatric inpatient and home care, and clinical research.  She comes to us from the Geropsychiatry Unit at the VA Medical Center.

Karen Wetzel, P.A.-C, M.P.A.S, received her B.A. as a Physician Assistant from the University of Nebraska. She joined the ADRC in 2002. She further pursued her studies earning degrees in both Psychology and P.A .Studies, and has been working in research for the last eight years.