Verena Cimarolli figures she has experienced multiple bouts of serendipity in her life.
She grew up with two siblings in Hall in Tirol, Austria, a historic town in the Alps where her father was the director of the local tourism office and her mom was an administrative assistant. The first in her family to attend college, Cimarolli chose to study psychology, essentially at random, at the University of Vienna, despite childhood dreams of spending time in New York City and being a Hollywood actress.
Once in the Austrian capital, she found an exchange program enabling her to finish a degree at City College in New York, where she also later completed doctorate studies in applied psychology at Fordham University.
Whenever she needed a job, there was one available to her. After working as a researcher at Lighthouse International for 13 years, she found a research scientist position at The New Jewish Home, an affiliate of LeadingAge, in 2010. There she met the current co-director of the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston, Robyn Stone, and landed a job as a research associate.
“I was looking on their website, and there was a job. It was written for me,” Cimarolli recalled. “I was told you should not say you were in the right place at the right time because, you know, you accomplish these things, but to some extent that actually did happen.”
She met her husband, who was born in Korea and raised in Toronto, in a similarly fortuitous way: At a party through a friend of a friend of a friend.
“The interesting thing is that he was born in July the same year that I was born. I was born in October. So, I always say, what are the chances when we were born that we would have ever met in real life?” Cimarolli said.
Now she is a long-time New Yorker, living in Harlem with her husband, James Lee, and 16-year-old son, Noah. She enjoys walking, going to museums and trying out new restaurants with James, who owns and operates 181 Cabrini, a corner bistro.
She also enjoys running, a hobby that she says she started out of a hatred for the gym, an enjoyment of hiking — a popular pursuit in Austria — and being inspired by other female runners her age. Now 55, she’s run the New York Marathon three times, despite finishing her first attempt in the dark and vowing to never race again. Much of her training took place in her favorite spot in the city: Central Park.
“I know every hill,” she says laughing. “It’s just so beautiful, and it’s so amazing that it exists.”
While pursuing her PhD, she became fascinated with older adults and how they adapt to the challenges that face them. In her current job as vice president of applied research and partnerships, she studies how the social environment of an older adult can help them adjust to the challenges of chronic illness.
“I think what I enjoy most is that I feel I can make a difference, even if it’s just a little bit,” Cimarolli said. “We write these research briefs and tool kits, and if there’s just one member who is using it, that should make a difference in terms of improving the care that is offered to older adults, and that I enjoy.”
Cimarolli’s resume
1995 Earns bachelor’s degree from City College, City University of New York
1998 Completes master’s degree at Fordham University
1999 Named senior research assistant at Lighthouse International
2002 Earns PhD from Fordham University
2006 Promoted to director of evaluation research at Lighthouse International
2010 Becomes senior research scientist, Research Institute on Aging at The New Jewish Home
2018-2021 Research associate at the LeadingAge LTSS Center @UMass Boston
2021 Promoted to director of health services research and partnerships at the LTSS Center
2024 Named vice president, LTSS Center
From the october 2024 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
