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Recent Publications from some of our Alum:

 

Alumni News and Announcements:

  • Florencia Rojo, PhD had her article, "Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Balancing Pedagogy and Partnerships in an Undergraduate Community-Based Research Class",  in Teaching Sociology profiled in the ASA journals newsletter and was featured in the ASA podcast (January 2025 – 53(1)
  • Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH, professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, was featured in The Washington Post’s Oct. 18 article "Alone with Dementia: Solo Adults Often Slip Through Caregiving Cracks."
  • Alice Wong, MS, named one of the 2024 MacArthur Fellows.
  • Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH, professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, hosted the Symposium on Living Alone with Cognitive Impairment as part of the Alzheimer's Association International Conference, July 28-Aug. 1, in Philadelphia, PA.
  • Jarmin Yeh, PhD, MPH, MSSW, associate professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, delivered two presentations during the British Society of Gerontology Conference, July 3-5, in Newcastle, England. Yeh presented the abstract "Training a Workforce to Provide In-Home Care to Older Adults Living with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias: An Example from California, USA," co-authored with Matthew Beld, research data analyst in the Institute for Health & Aging. Additionally, Yeh presented "From Root Shock to Urban Alchemy: The (Re)making of Urban Spaces Through the Lens of Black Older Women."
  • Jarmin Yeh, PhD, MPH, MSSW, was quoted in Daily Camera's June 27 article "CU Boulder Finds 59% of Older Adults Stay Home More Since COVID-19."
  • Jennifer James, PhD, MS, MSW, associate professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, was a moderator and speaker at the Segregated Healthcare: Dismantling Modern Day Jim Crow symposium on April 19. The event brought together lawyers, historians, clinicians, social scientists, community members and policymakers to share strategies for integrating care and to build partnerships to dismantle segregated care.
  • Podcast: Jessica Harrison on Integrating Mental Health In Perinatal Care. April 16, 2024
  • Rev. Megan Visser, PhD, proposal Coping with Diabetes Distress Using Religion/Spirituality and the Integration of Spiritual Care for Families of Children with Type 1 Diabetes, was selected to receive $100K in grant funding for a mentored postdoctoral fellowship in Integrated Diabetes Management by the Association for Diabetes Care and Education Specialists Foundation
  • The second annual Innovative and Critical Perspectives in the Social Sciences colloquia on March 14, 12-1:15 p.m., hosted by Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Emancipatory Sciences Lab. The event will feature alumnus Chris Hanssmann, a sociologist who studies the politics of health, science and medicine, focusing on relationships between biomedicine and social movements.
  • One of six UCSF faculty in the inaugural UCSF Science Policy Advocacy Leadership Program, Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH, associate professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, met on Feb. 14 in Washington D.C. with staff members of Senators Laphonza Butler and Alex Padilla, Congressmen John Garamendi and Josh Harder, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi to increase awareness about the importance of improved services to older Americans living alone with cognitive impairment.
  • Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH, was quoted in UCSF Magazine's winter article "A Prescription for Loneliness."
  • Jen James, PhD, MSW, MSSP, was among the experts featured in The Nation’s Nov. 9 article “How Do You Put a Price on the Loss of Autonomy From Forced Sterilization?”
  • Jen James, (PhD, 2016) was a guest on KQED forum on November 1, 2023, and her work on the compensation program for forced sterilizations in California was the subject of multiple articles. 
  • Sociology alum and Emerita Adele Clarke, PhD, is the 2023 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award in Qualitative Inquiry, International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry 
  • Jarmin Yeh, PhD, MPH, MSSW, assistant professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, received a California Department of Social Services grant for $300,000 for her project "Developing an Operational Plan for California Adult Protective Services Under the American Research Plan Act of 2021."
  • Jen James, (PhD, 2016), will deliver introductory remarks at the April 12 Grand Rounds organized by the UCSF Bioethics and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. James will be introducing the featured speaker, Michele Goodwin. Grand Rounds will be held in-person at Mission Bay and streamed via Zoom. CME credit available for attendees.
  • Jarmin Yeh, PhD (2020), MPH, MSSW, assistant professor in the Institute for Health & Aging, was a featured speaker at a Feb. 15 event as part of the Manchester Urban Research Group’s “Conversation on Urban Ageing” series. The discussion focused on the meaning of place to older people and the need to promote social justice in urban, aging neighborhoods.
  • Sociology alum Jennifer James (PhD, 2016) has been awarded multiple research awards:
    • received a four-year grant from the Greenwall Foundation, including $260,991 in year 1 funding, for her project, "Healthcare Decision-Making in California Women's Prisons: Historical Legacies of Injustice and Modern Regulatory Constraints."
    • named recipient of the 2021-2022 UCSF Society of Hellman Fellows Award. The Hellman Fellows Program is designed to assist promising early career faculty in their research. James will receive a $50,000 award.
    •  is one of three scholars nationwide to be named to the Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics’ Class of 2024. The program supports early-stage faculty members conducting innovative bioethics research addressing ethical, policy and practice issues. James will receive 50 percent salary support for three years to advance her bioethics career. Read the full announcement.
  • UCSF Magazine ran an article What’s Wrong (and Right) With Race in Medicine featuring six panelists, one of whom was our own Jennifer James.  Read it here.
  •  Jennifer James was also featured on the UCSF SON Science of Caring news site in Meet the UCSF Nursing Faculty Working to Illuminate COVID’s Impact
  • On March 11, 2021 House Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) released a statement after President Biden nominated Health Subcommittee Deputy Staff Director and professional tax staffer, Melanie Anne Egorin, Ph.D, to serve as the next Assistant Secretary for Legislation at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Egorin earned her PhD at UCSF in Sociology in 2004. Read the announcement, here. UPDATE 7/13/21 : Finance Committee Votes to Approve the Nominations of Melanie Egorin to HHS
  • Alice Wong, (Sociology MS, 2004) was featured in KQED's article piece, "'So Angry, So Scared': California COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Change Leaves Disabled People Behind, Say Advocates" on February 1, 2021

 

In Memoriam

With great sadness, we share the news that Melissa Victor, a Sociology PhD student who started our program in September 2023 and was with us for the Fall 2023 term, passed away on Saturday, November 16,  2024 surrounded by family and loved ones. 

We are saddened by the loss of alum Cassie Crawford (PhD class of 2007). Her obituary can be viewed here. 

The Sociology program lost Adele Clarke on January 19, 2024.  See obituary and rememberances at: https://sociology.ucsf.edu/emeriti 

On September 7, 2022, we are sad to say Lyn Lofland, Sociology PhD 1971, passed away peacefully at home in hospice.  Dr. Lofland was a much-beloved Emerita Professor of Sociology at UC Davis.

We are saddened to learn of the loss of Dr. Steven Wallace, class of 1987.  At the time of his passing, Dr. Wallace was the Director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.  A statement on his passing can be read, here and you can read Remembering Steve Wallace in the Summer 2021 UCLA magazine

The sociology program mourns the loss of alumni Dr. Kathy Charmaz whom passed away July 26, 2020. Kathy was in the very first Sociology program cohort and graduated from the program in 1973. Her obituary, written by Dr. Adele Clarke, can be read here.