Kathryn Whetten, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Community and Family Medicine and Director, Center for Health Policy; Director, Health Inequalities Program  

Office Phone: (919) 613-5430
Email Address: k.whetten@duke.edu

Areas of Expertise

  • Health Policy
    • Access to health care
    • Global Health
    • Health Disparities
    • HIV/AIDS
  • International, Poverty

Education:
PhD, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1994

Research Categories: Global Health Disparities

Current projects: Positive Outcomes for Children Orphaned by AIDS, Coping with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, Integrative Treatment Model for Women in Russia, Secondary Analysis of Alcohol and HIV/AIDS Data, Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Rural South (CHASE) , North Carolina HIV/AIDS Training Network, Duke's Global Health Initiative

Research Description: Whetten’s research examines the health behaviors and outcomes of disadvantaged communities and individuals. She seeks to understand the interrelationships among individual and community psychosocial dynamics, health behaviors, health, provider characteristics and public policies. Whetten views these relationships as multidirectional. She examines and clarifies underlying group characteristics that can be addressing to improve individual and community well-being. Whetten is one of a small group of researchers examining adult health outcomes as they relate to a life-course of events and influences starting with childhood experiences within families and communities and continuing through present-day conditions that may be manipulated through intervention. All of Whetten’s research is grounded in the idea that public policies can make a difference in people’s lives. Whetten has lead more than 15 federally funded research grants and is the author of 2 books and over 50 peer reviewed articles. Currently Whetten and her intervention, service and research team have research projects that address issues surrounding HIV/AIDS, mental health, substance abuse, being orphaned, social justice, and poverty in the US Deep South and in less wealthy nations. She and her team work with colleagues in: the US Deep South; Tanzania; Kenya; Ethiopia; India; Cambodia and Russia conducting research and interventions. A few of the research projects are: “Positive Outcomes for Children Orphaned by AIDS;” "Coping with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania;" “Integrative Treatment Model for Women in Russia;” “Secondary Analysis of Alcohol and HIV/AIDS Data;” “Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Rural South (CHASE);” and the “North Carolina HIV/AIDS Training Network;” and she is working closely with Duke's Global Health Initiative.

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

  1. K. Whetten, Ostermann J, Whetten R.A., Pence B.W., O’Donnell K., Messer L.C., Thielman NM, The Positive Outcomes for Orphans (POFO) Research Team. "A Comparison of the Wellbeing of Orphans and Abandoned Children Ages 6-12 in Institutional and Community-Based Care Settings in 5 Less Wealthy Nations.." PLoS ONE 4.12 (12-18-2009): e8169. [info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0008169]  [abs]
  2. Mugavero MJ, Raper JL, Reif S, Whetten K, Leserman J, Thielman NM, Pence BW. "Overload: The Impact of Incident Stressful Events on Antiretroviral Medication Adherence and Virologic Failure in a Longitudinal, Multi-site HIV Cohort Study." Psychosomatic Medicine 71 (10-29-2009): 920-926.  [abs]
  3. Messer LC, K O’Donnel, S Parkash, E Umar, K Whetten. "Social network analysis: Modifying a quantitative instrument for a resource-poor environment." American Journal of Epidemiology 169.S11 (2009): S86.
  4. Buhl, LC, Whetten K., Whetten R. Renewing Struggles for Social Justice: A Primer for Transformative Leaders. Compress, Inc., 2008.
  5. Pence BW, J Ostermann, V Kumar, K Whetten, N Thielman, MJ Mugavero. "The Influence of Psychosocial Characteristics and Race/Ethnicity on Use, Duration, and Success of Antiretroviral Therapy." JAIDS 47.2 (2008): 194-201.

Curriculum Vitae

Highlight:
Kathryn Whetten is an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Nursing, and Community and Family Medicine. She part of the Duke Global Health Institute and is the Director of Duke University’s Center for Health Policy and the Health Inequalities Program. Whetten is the Research Director of the Hart Fellows Program. Whetten's work focuses on the understanding of health disparities.

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