Associated Faculty

Edmund R. Becker

(Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1981); Rollins School of Public Health; organizational theory and behavior, medical sociology, health care organization and policy; unions and labor relations.

Current Research: health care organization autonomy and performance; returns of investment in public health; physician payment and productivity.

Selected Publications: "State Regulation and Hospital Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, 1995; "A Comparison of the Cost and Quality of Life after Angioplasty or Coronary Surgery for Multivessel Coronary Artery Disease: Results from the Emory Angioplasty versus Surgery Trial (EAST)," Circulation, 1995.

Joan Herold

(Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1982); Rollins School of Public Health; migration, fertility and family planning, women's status, Latin American demography.

Current Research: Latin American fertility and family planning.

Selected Publications: "Unintended Pregnancy and Sex Education, Chile: A Behavioral Model," Journal of Biosocial Science, 1994; Premarital Sexual Activity and Contraceptive Use in Santiago, Chile," (co-author), Studies in Family Planning, 1992.

Frank M. Howell  (fmhowel@emory.edu) 

(Ph.D., Mississippi State University, 1979); Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia; research methods, demography, environmental sociology, public policy.

Current Research: emphasizing methods of scientific data visualization and geographical information systems (GIS).

Selected Publications: Howell, Frank M. and Jeremy R. Porter. Forthcoming. "Surveys and Geographical Information Systems," Handbook of Survey Research, 2/e, Peter V. Marsden and James D. Wright, Editors. Academic Press; Mathews, Todd L. and Frank M. Howell. 2006 “Promoting Civic Culture: The Transmission of Civic Involvement from Parent to Child.” Sociological Focus 39(1): 19-35.

Nancy G. Kutner

(Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1965); Rehabilitation Medicine; medical sociology, aging, mental health.

Current Research: health behaviors and health outcomes in chronic illness and aging.

Selected Publications: "Issues in the Application of High-Cost Medical Technology: The Case of Organ Transplantation," in The Sociology of Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives, 2004; "The Sociology of Disability," in The Handbook of 21st Century Sociology, Vol. 2, 2006.

Richard M. Levinson

(Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 1975); Rollins School of Public Health; medical sociology, health behavior, health policy.

Current Research: financial barriers to health services; social determinants of health risk behaviors.

Selected Publications: "Physical Activity of Public Housing Residents in Birmingham, Alabama," (coauthor), American Journal of Public Health, 1993; "The Role of Family History of Disease and Personal Morbidity in Eating Behavior," (co-author), Psychology and Health, 1992.

Claire Sterk

(Ph.D., Erasmus University, Rotterdam/City University of New York, 1990); Rollins School of Public Health; medical sociology, social epidemiology.

Current Research: community-based health-focused prevention interventions; women's health; addiction; health care systems.

Selected Publications:

• Tricking and Tripping: Prostitution in the Era of Aids, Social Change Press, 2000;
• Fast Lives: Women Who Use Crack Cocaine, Temple University Press, 1999; "Epidemiological Indicators and Ethnographic Realities of Female Cocaine Use," (co-author), Journal of Substance Abuse and Use, 1999.
• Kushner, H. and Sterk, C. "The Limits of Social Capital: Durkheim, Suicide, and Social Cohesion." American Journal of Public Health 95(7): 1139-1143, 2005.
• Sterk, C., Theall, K., and Elifson, K. “African American Female Drug Users and HIV Risk Reduction: Challenges with Criminal Involvement.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 16(4): 89-107, 2005.
• Klein, H., Sterk, C. and Elifson, K. “Predictors of suicidal ideation among ‘at risk’ cocaine-using Africa American women.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behaviors, 36(3): 336-348, 2006.
• Sterk, C., Theall, K. and Elifson, K. “The impact of emotional distress on HIV risk reduction among women.” Substance Use & Misuse, 41(2):157-173, 2006.
• Boeri, M., Sterk, C. and Elifson, K. “Baby boomer drug users: Career phases, social control, and social learning theory.” Sociological Inquiry, 76(2): 264-291, 2006.
• Theall, K., Elifson, K. and Sterk, C. “Sex, Touch, and HIV risk among ecstasy users.” AIDS and Behavior, 10(2): 169-178, 2006.

Steven M. Tipton

(Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979); Candler School of Theology; sociology of morality, culture, religion.

Current Research: religion and moral discourse in public life; American culture and institutional analysis.

Selected Publications: The Good Society, (co-author), Knopf, 1991; Habits of the Heart, (co-author), University of California Press, 1985; Getting Saved from the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change, University of California Press, 1982.

Paul Root Wolpe

(Ph.D., Yale University, 1987); Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, and Director, Center for Ethics; medical sociology, sociology of bioethics, sociology of science and technology, sociology of religion, sociology of knowledge.

Current Research: biotechnology and its impacts on medical care, medical ideology and the evolving health care system, psychopharmaceuticals and definitions of illness.

Selected Publications: Reasons scientists avoid thinking about ethics. Cell 2006; Emerging neurotechnologies for lie detection and the Fifth Amendment.  American Journal of Law and Medicine 2007; Understanding “quality of life”: Does it have a role in medical decision-making? In Zohar N. (Ed.) Quality of Life in Jewish Bioethics, 2006; What's in a cause? Exploring the relationship between genetic etiology and social stigma. Genetics in Medicine 2006.

Adjunct Faculty

Shailendra Nath Banerjee (Ph.D., Emory University, 1982); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; demography, medical sociology, statistics..

Timothy Brezina (Ph.D., Emory University, 1996); Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Georgia State University; criminology, social psychology, social stratification.

Clark Denny (Ph.D., Emory University, 1996); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; demography, Native American health, surveys, cardiovascular disease, alcohol abuse.

M.V. George (Ph.D., Australian National University (ANU), 1966); formerly of Statistics Canada, Ottawa, and recently with Global AIDS Program, CDC, Atlanta; currently Adjunct Professor, Department of Global Health, Emory University; and Adjunct Associate, Center for Population Studies, University of Mississippi. Specialty/interest: internal and international migration; urbanization; demographic analysis; demographic estimates and projections; Canadian Aboriginal and visible minorities demographic studies; reproductive health, public health issues, and HIV/AIDS trends.

Selected Publications: Selected Publications: Internal Migration in Canada: Demographic Analyses, 1961 Census Monograph, DBS, Queen's Printer, Ottawa,1970; Migration Between the United States and Canada, U.S. Bureau of the Census, P.23, No.167, Washington, 1990 (co-author); "Chapter 21: Population Projections”, in Methods and Materials in Demography, Elsevier Academic Press, San Diego, 2004 (co-author; "Measuring trends in prevalence and incidence of HIV infection in countries with generalized epidemics", Sexually Transmitted Infections, March 2006(co-author).

William L. Graves (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1969); Emory School of Medicine; medical sociology, population, research design.

Amy Fasula (Ph.D., MPH, Emory University, 2005); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; social determinants of sexual health, gender, youth.

Deborah Holtzman (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, 1985); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; social epidemiology, AIDS, health education.

Mike McQuaide (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, 1979); Oxford College; medical sociology, aging, social problems, social psychology.

Karin Ann Mack (Ph.D., University of Maryland, 1995); ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; unintentional injury, aging and life course; demography, family, gender, survey research.

James A. Mercy (Ph.D., Emory University, 1982); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; interpersonal violence, research methods, public health, policy.

Kim Miller (Ph.D., Emory University, 1989); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; AIDS, adolescence health risk behaviors, family, ethnic minorities.

Graham Scambler (Ph.D., University of London, 1983); University College of London; medical sociology, sociological theory.

Saswati Sunderam (Ph.D., Emory University, 1997); Georgia Division of Public Health; population-based approaches to community health analysis and health assessment.

Emeritus Faculty

Alvin Boskoff (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1950); sociological theory, comparative urban structures, stratification, social change.

Abbott Ferris (Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1950); social indicators.

Samarendranath Mitra (Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1961); formal demography, mathematical models, statistics.

William W. Pendleton Jr. (Ph.D., Tulane University, 1965); sociology of education, population, social ecology, family.