Our Graduates
Julie Locher, PhD, MSPH, 1999
Dr. Locher is Director of the Public Policy and Aging Program at UAB, a joint venture between the Center for Aging and the Lister Hill Center for Health Policy. She holds joint appointments in the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care (in the Department of Medicine); the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy; and The Department of Sociology. Her work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, private foundations, and intramural funding. Her primary area of research focuses on social and environmental factors that affect eating behaviors and nutrition-related health outcomes in older adults whose health is compromised and in cancer patients. Most of this work has been observational, but is now turning toward interventional research and health services research utilizing large databases. A secondary and related area of interest focuses on examining policies and practices that affect the well-being of the homebound population and identifying ways to best deliver community-based long-term care, including nutritional support.
Selected Publications
Locher JL, Kilgore ML, Morrisey M, & Ritchie CS. (2006). Patterns and Predictors of Home Health and Hospice Utilization by Older Adults with Cancer. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 54:1206-1211.
Locher JL, Bronstein J, Ritchie CS, Robinson CO, & Williams C. (2006). Ethical Issues Involving Research Conducted in the Home with Homebound Older Adults: Therapeutic Misconception and Role Conflict. The Gerontologist, 46:160-164.
Locher JL, Robinson CO, Roth DL, Ritchie CS, & Burgio KL (2005). The Effect of the Presence of Others on Caloric Intake in Homebound Older Adults. The Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, 60A (11), 1475-1478.
Locher JL, Yoels WC, Maurer D, & Van Ells J (2005). Comfort Foods: An Exploratory Journey in the Social and Emotional Significance of Food. Food and Foodways, 13 (4), 273-297.
Locher JL, Ritchie CS, Baker PS, Bodner EV, & Allman RM (2005). Social Isolation, Support, and Capital and Nutritional Risk in an Older Sample: Ethnic and Gender Differences. Social Science and Medicine. 60 (4), 747-761.
