Mark Luborsky
Mark R. Luborsky is Director of Aging & Health Disparities Research at the Institute of Gerontology, and Professor of Anthropology and Gerontology. Luborsky is the Co-Founder of the Institute for Information Technology & Culture. He is Editor of the journal, Medical Anthropology Quarterly: International Journal for the Analysis of Health (2006-2013). He also co-directed the IOG's NIH-funded Post-Doctoral Training Program. Currently he serves as a member of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board NIH/NIAM, and is a member of the NIH/CIHB study section review panel (2010-2014).
- Margaret Clark Award Paper Competition (application information)
- Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education
- Qualitative Methods in Health Research (NIH document, final report)
From 1985 to 1997 he was Senior Scientist and Assistant Director of Research at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center. Then from 1997 to 2000 he was the first Director of Research for the Occupational Therapy Program at Wayne State University. A cup of dark-roast coffee in hand (maybe a danish) is usually all he needs to be happy.
He was Vice Chair of the University Human Investigation Committee board, and continues to serve as a regular member. He was elected to a three year term as Secretary/Treasurer of the Society
His research focuses on life reorganization and continuity of meaning and function. Topics include physical disability (polio; mobility loss), mental health, and normative biases in development theory. Continuously funded since 1987 by several NIH agencies, he served as a permanent reviewer for 5 years. Current funding includes R01 grants from the NIA, NICHD, NIMH, and NIAID. Some of these are multi-city studies of meanings, health and function, using ethnographic, epidemiological, and standardized methods. Other projects focus on reducing the digital divide for minority cancer patients.
A current project in Rwanda, "Prevention for Positives: Intervention-linked Research on HIV-Infected People (FHI/USAID) is designed to conduct basic research and develop targeted interventions to prevent viral transmission by HIV+ persons, and to enhance Rwanda national research capacity in the social sciences in collaboration with the health ministries.
He publishes on basic theory, critical qualitative methods, and some on interventions. Results have led to new measures of health and quality of life in the CDC's National Health Interview Study, guidelines for assessing depression in the elderly, and for improving utilization of adaptive devices.
Baccalaureate: Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, New York - B.A. with Honors in Anthropology, 1974
Graduate: University of Rochester, Rochester, New York - Ph.D., Social Anthropology, 1985
Principal Investigator
Dowsizing Possession for Residential Moves in Later Life (D. Ekerdt, PI, Univ Kansas)
National Institute on Aging, 2008-2011
Hip Fracture: Cultural Loss and Longterm Reintegration
National Institute on Aging, 2006-2010.
Adult-Onset Mobility Loss: Personal Meaning & Wellbeing
Co-Principal Investigator
• 2005 Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, Wayne State University.
• Plenary Speaker, Invited. Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research: Improving the Quality of Science and Addressing Health Disparities, Gerontological Society of American, Washington, DC 2004. Funded by National Institute of Health, and American Public Health Association.
• Keynote Speaker, " Intertwining of Desire, Culture, & Science: A Cultural Life Span Model Of Effective Functioning Among Two Age Cohorts of Polio Survivors," "Understanding Habits in Context," American Occupational Therapy Foundation, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Pacific Grove, CA, Feb. 2001.
• Invited participant, NIH Qualitative Research Working Group, NeuroScience Center, Sept 1999, Rockville MD [12 member trans-NIH panel to develop a document to increase rigor and acceptance of qualitative methods and of joint qualitative-quantitative models]
• Foreign Visiting Scientist, Karolinska Institute, Neurotec, Stockholm, Sweden. June 2001
• STINT Foundation Visiting Scientist/Scholar (Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education) six month funded research and writing retreat. Karolinska Institute for Neurotec, Stockholm, Sweden. 2001-2002
• Section Chair, Invited, National Institutes on Health conference, "Towards Higher Levels of Analyses: Progress and Promise in Research on Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health," for the panel to develop NIH agendas on social consequences of illness, June 2000. Bethesda, MD
• Keynote Speaker/Consultant, "Vices and Virtues in the Practice of Qualitative Research: Steps to Make Your Project Competitive for NIH Funding." Center for Outcomes Research, national research fellows training program. University Illinois-Chicago, October 2000.
• President's Exceptional Service Award, Wayne State University, May, 2000
McMullen, K., and Luborsky, M. (2006). Self-Rated Health as Cultural and Identity Process: African-American Elders' Health Evaluative Rationales. The Gerontologist, 46: (forthcoming).
La Cour, K., Luborsky, M., & Josephsson, S. (2005). Creating Connections To Life During Life-Threatening Illness: Creative Activity Experienced By Elderly People And Occupational Therapists. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy 12(3): 98-109.
Zhao Lu, Hao Ying, Feng Lin, Stewart Neufeld, Mark Luborsky, Andra Sankar, David Brawn. (2005). Multi-Class Support Vector Machines for Modeling HIV/AIDS Treatment Adherence Using Patient Data. Neural Networks, 18: (in press) Advances in Neural Networks Research co-edited by Danil Prokhorov, Daniel Levine, Fredric Ham, and William Howell (in press).
Lysack, C., Luborsky, M., Dillaway, H. (2006). "Gathering Qualitative Data." In, G. Kielfhofner (Ed.), Scholarship in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice. FA Davis, Philadelphia, PA.
Luborsky, M., Lysack, C. (2006). "Overview Of Qualitative Research" In, G. Kielfhofner (Ed), Scholarship in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice. FA Davis, Philadelphia, PA.
Dillaway, H., Luborsky, M., Lysack, C. (2006). "Interpreting Qualitative Data" In, G. Kielfhofner (Ed), Scholarship in Occupational Therapy: Methods of Inquiry for Enhancing Practice. FA Davis, Philadelphia, PA.
Luborsky M., & Rubinstein, R. (2001). Sampling in Qualitative Research, in, A. Bryman (Ed.) Ethnographic Research: Vol II: Ethnographic Fieldwork Practice. SAGE Publications Ltd, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Luborsky, M & LeBlanc, I. (2003). Cross-Cultural Redefinition of the Retirement Concept. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 18(4): 251-271.
Sankar, A. & Luborsky, M., Schumann, P, & Roberts, G. (2001). Adherence Narratives Among African American Women Taking HAART. AIDS Care (forthcoming).
Sankar, A. & Luborsky, M. (2001). Developing a Community-Based Definition of Needs for Persons Living with Chronic HIV. Human Organization (forthcoming).
Gitlin, L., Luborsky, M., & Schemm, R. (1998). Emerging Concerns of Older Stroke Patients About Assistive Device Use. The Gerontologist, 38(2): 169-180.
Sankar, A., & Luborsky, M., T. Rwabuhemba, P. Songwathana. (1998). Comparative Perspectives on Living with HIV/AIDS in Late Life. In, M. Ory (ed.) Research on Aging, 20(6): 885-911.
Deppen, M. & Luborsky, M., & Scheer, J. (1997). Aging, Disability, and Ethnicity: An African-American Woman's Story. In J. Sokolovsky (ed.), The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives. New York: Bergin and Garvey.
Luborsky, M., & Rubinstein, R. (1997). Dynamics of Ethnicity, Identity, and Bereavement in Later Life: Older Widowers Experiences. In J. Sokolovsky (ed.), The Cultural Context of Aging: Worldwide Perspectives. New York: Bergin and Garvey.
Luborsky, M. (1997). Attuning Assessment to the Client: Recent Advances in Theory and Methodology. Generations, 21(1):10-16.
Luborsky, M. & Riley, E. Residents' Understanding and Experience of Depression: Anthropological Perspectives. In, R. Rubinstein and M. Lawton (eds.) Depression in Long Term and Residential Care. NY: Springer Publishing. 1997.
Luborsky, M. (1995). The Process of Self-Report of Impairment in Clinical Research. Social Science and Medicine, 40(11): 1447-1459.
Luborsky, M. & Rubinstein, R. (1995). Sampling in Qualitative Research: Rationales, Issues, and Methods. Research on Aging, 17(1): 89-113.
Luborsky, M. (1993). The Identification and Analyses of Themes and Patterns. In J. Gubrium, & A. Sankar (eds.), Qualitative Methods in Aging Research. New York: Sage Publications.
Scheer, J., & Luborsky, M. (1993). The Cultural Context of Polio Biographies. Orthopedics, 14 (11), 1173-1181.
Alexander, B., Rubinstein, R. L., Goodman, M., & Luborsky, M. (1991). Generativity in Cultural Context: The Self, Death and Immortality as Experienced by Older American Women. Aging and Society, 11, 417-442.
Goodman, M., Rubinstein, R., Alexander, B., & Luborsky, M. (1991). Cultural Differences Among Elderly Women in Coping with the Death of an Adult Child. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 46(6), S321-329.
Books
Luborsky, M. (1998). Creative Challenges and the Construction of Meaningful Life Narratives. In, C. Adams-Price (Ed), Creativity and Successful Aging: Theoretical and Empirical Approaches. New York: Springer.
Luborsky, M. & Kurn, C. (1999). Culture and Aging, In J. Cavanaugh and S. Whitebourne (eds), Gerontology: An Interdiscipinary Perspective. NY: Oxford University Press.