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One of first Kaiser Permanente leadership awards goes to Arnold School researcher studying factors affecting aging
December 14, 2010
Arnold School assistant professor Dr. Mindi Spencer is among six researchers to receive the first Kaiser Permanente Burch Minority Leadership Development Awards.
Kaiser Permanente awarded the Center for Advancing Health $98,000 to launch the KP Burch Leadership Awards to support junior researchers in health disparities.
Spencer, whose research focuses on how cultural and psychosocial factors influence quality of life in older adulthood, is a faculty member in the Department of Health Promotion, Education and Behavior. She also holds a joint appointment in USC's Institute for Southern Studies.
Spencer has examined health and disability among minority groups and has a particular interest in the need for long-term care for older Native Americans. Her more recent work focuses on the experience of growing old in the American South.
The KP Burch Leadership Awards program honors the service of Chris Burch to the cause of public hospitals and social justice. Burch recently retired as the executive director of the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health System.
"It is a true honor to receive an award that is inspired by such an amazing person," said Spencer. "Chris Burch has been an amazing advocate for the most vulnerable Americans. Her career, including her work with the late (U.S.) Senator Edward Kennedy, is the embodiment of health promotion and social justice."
The KP Burch Leadership Awards aim to enhance the voices and leadership development of minority researchers committed to improving service to the underserved and reducing health and healthcare inequalities by strengthening support for public hospitals and other safety net providers.
Spencer is a West Virginia native who joined the Arnold School in August 2008. She earned a doctorate in Life-Span Developmental Psychology from West Virginia University and was a Kellogg Health Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh.
For more information on the Kaiser Permanente Burch Minority Leadership Program and other awardees, click here.
