Where are they now?
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More AlumniKathryn BerlinAndres E. Carrillo Aleda Chen Krista Cline Katie Hill Gallant Megan Gilligan Kimberly Hurley Heidi IglayReger Jessica Kelley Seoyoun Kim Min-Ah Lee Mary Marshall Megan MacPherson Lauren Parker Lindsay Pitzer Markus Schafer Jori Sechrist Amber Seidel Tetyana P. Shippee John Spruill III April J. Stull Anusha Sundarrajan Roland J. Thorpe Kyle Timmerman Nicholas Turiano Lori Ward Oliver Wendt Lindsay Wilkinson Tim Wright |
Lori M. Ward, PhDLori M. Ward is currently an assistant professor of pharmacy administration in the University of Mississippi. Dr. Ward has a wide range of research interests, including patient provider relationships, medication use in older adults, health outcomes, healthcare resource use, racial and ethnic disparities, and retrospective database analysis. Why did you get interested in the study of aging?From my teen years to adulthood, my mother was a caregiver. She cared for my father, grandparents, and an aunt. I often would assist her in caring for them. During my first semester at Purdue, I was informed about the Center on Aging Dual-Title PhD program in Gerontology. I decided to take Economics of Aging, from Dr. Sharon DeVaney, to determine if I would be interested. I enjoyed the course so much, I decided to join the program. What experiences did you have at Purdue that helped shape your career?Several experiences at Purdue have helped to shape my career. My experiences with both the Center on Aging and the Life Course and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering, Center for Health Outcomes Research and Policy helped to shape me as a researcher and gerontologist. The research opportunities, coursework, various symposiums/workshops, and serving on committees all helped to shape my career. In what ways do you infuse ideas from your study of aging into courses that you are now teaching?I teach in the first professional year in the pharmacy administration course, which covers an array of topics such as Medicare, caregiving, and patient interaction, just to name a few. I am able to incorporate various elements on how to interact and provide care to patients who are ages 65 and older. Also, I teach research methods to graduate students, where I incorporate my research experiences to provide examples of various methods used in conducting research among older adults. After moving to the University of Mississippi, are you working on any new research projects related to aging?I am continuing my research in medication adherence, healthcare resource use and cost among older adults. Anything else you would like to add?I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a graduate student in the Center on Aging and the Life Course and the College of Pharmacy. I am appreciative of my mentors from the Center on Aging and the Life Course for their guidance during my years at Purdue. Many thanks to Dr. Joseph Thomas III, Dr. Ken Ferraro, and Dr. Sharon DeVaney. |
