Heather Picotte brings more than two decades of experience in health-focused communications, fundraising, and strategic engagement to her role as Strategic Engagement Officer with AgeAlive and IMPART Alliance. Over the course of her career, she has built a reputation as a respected connector—someone who brings together people, ideas, and institutions to strengthen understanding around health, aging, and well-being.
“I get excited about connecting people,” she said. “That’s really my purpose—bringing ideas, people and organizations together so they can support each other.”
A longtime advocate for person-centered care and aging populations, Picotte’s work has consistently centered on that theme of connection. Before joining AgeAlive, she led communications for statewide health organizations and aging initiatives, served on a state health taskforce, and managed multi-million-dollar grant projects focused on elder care, workforce development, and health systems and quality improvement. Today, she continues to support nonprofit and community-based organizations, including MSU AgeAlive and IMPART Alliance, through consulting, capacity building, and donor engagement, with a focus on health, the arts, and community well-being.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations with an emphasis on health communications and research along with a minor in Journalism, a background that shaped her ability to translate complex research and systems-level work into accessible stories that resonate beyond academia.
At AgeAlive and IMPART Alliance, Picotte describes her work as both professional and deeply personal. Her passion for aging-related initiatives began early, rooted in close relationships with her grandparents and a lifelong involvement in intergenerational experiences.
“I’ve always had a love of intergenerational programming, aging-related initiatives, and overall well-being in research,” she said. “My entire life is kind of centered around those themes.”
That passion deepened through caregiving experiences that shaped how she views aging and independence. During college and in her early twenties, she cared for her grandparents as they faced dementia, cancer, and hospice care. Those experiences became formative in shaping her understanding of aging not as decline, but as identity, continuity, and connection.
“It was very enlightening,” Picotte said. “Those caregiving experiences shaped me, and now my work with AgeAlive and IMPART Alliance reflects back many of those same themes and experiences.”
She also pointed to her family background as a major influence on her work. Her mother worked as a direct care worker for more than 25 years, and her father became disabled after a serious accident when Picotte was young, leading her into caregiving responsibilities at home.
“I became a caregiver at a very young age,” she said. “Those experiences really shaped how I see support systems, independence, and what people actually need as they age.”
At AgeAlive and IMPART Alliance, Picotte now channels those lived experiences into connecting research, community engagement, and storytelling across Michigan State University and communities throughout Michigan. Through her role with IMPART Alliance, she also serves as a key connection point in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, helping build relationships and support the alliance’s mission on the ground.
“I really feel like my purpose in life is connecting people,” she said. “Coming from a rural community and working across different parts of Michigan State and statewide initiatives, I’ve been able to bring people together who otherwise might never meet.”
She emphasized that one of the most meaningful parts of her work is breaking down silos across disciplines and helping people to see the potential they might otherwise miss through professional growth and partnerships.
“The more we understand what everyone is working on, the more opportunity there is to collaborate,” she said. “Whether it’s social work, engineering, kinesiology, or urban planning—aging touches all of it.”
Picotte also highlighted how AgeAlive programming creates space for meaningful dialogue between generations. Through initiatives like MSU AgeAlive Research Forum, Town and Gown series, Generations Connect and Healing Gardens, she has seen students, faculty, and older adults engage in conversations that extend beyond surface-level interaction.
“These programs allow people to come together and have deeper conversations they might not otherwise have time for,” she said. “It’s about curiosity, understanding, and shared learning.”
One example she shared was an arts-based healing project centered around butterfly gardens and creative expression, which became especially meaningful in the aftermath of COVID-19 and MSU campus tragedy. The project evolved into a space where participants could process grief collectively.
“It gave people a space to share their experiences in something that felt less intimidating,” she said. “It had a profound impact.”
Another highlight for Picotte is seeing older adults engage directly with MSU research, sometimes even before it reaches publication.
“At a recent forum in the U.P., I watched as people realized they were seeing MSU research and mobility devices that hadn’t even hit the market yet,” she said. “That moment of realization—that they were part of something happening in real time at the university—that was really exciting.”
Looking ahead, Picotte sees AgeAlive as an emerging force within MSU with the potential to unify aging-related research across disciplines and expand its impact far beyond campus.
“I think AgeAlive is just starting to gain momentum,” she said. “The more we connect departments and reduce silos, the more we can make a real difference for people experiencing aging, health changes, or caregiving challenges.”
She also emphasized the importance of shifting how society views aging altogether.
“We spend most of our lives wanting to grow older, stronger, and more independent,” she said. “And then we fear it when it happens. But aging is a journey—it’s an evolution. If we lean into that, we can better support each other at every stage of life.”
For Picotte, that philosophy is at the heart of everything she does: building bridges between generations, disciplines, and communities so that aging is understood not as something to be avoided, but as something to be valued, studied, and shared.
To learn more about MSU AgeAlive, visit www.agealive.org.