Good Policy

USC alum Dawn Alley, Ph.D., wins a Health and Aging Policy Fellowship from The Atlantic Philanthropies
By Jonathan Riggs

Dawn Alley, Ph.D.

USC Davis School of Gerontology alum Dawn Alley, Ph.D., was named one of The Atlantic Philanthropies’ Health and Aging Policy Fellows. As a residential fellow, she will participate directly in the policymaking process in Washington, DC and gain invaluable experience in helping create and implement positive health policy for older adults.

“Several new initiatives have provided opportunities to focus on the intersection between population health and policy,” she said. “I want to be a part of these efforts in order to find ways to better design research with the potential to be incorporated into policies that improve population health and reduce health disparities.”

Following in the footsteps of Gretchen Alkema, Ph.D., another USC Davis School alum who earned this particular honor, Alley says she hopes to make a difference through policies that encourage cooperation across sectors, boosting population health in every aspect and not just focusing on health care itself.

“Many other policy domains, from income support policy to housing policy to Older Americans Act services, also have the potential to affect older persons’ health. In fact, most of the things that affect health happen outside the doctor’s office,” she said. “A whole variety of policy work going on this year has the potential to impact older people’s health: spending cuts in a variety of programs, the re-authorization of the Older Americans Act, continuing implementation of health care reform, and, of course, initiatives that come out of the Presidential election. It’s a very exciting time to get to be in Washington and an amazing learning opportunity.”

Holding a B.S. (2002) and a Ph.D. (2006) from USC in gerontology, Alley is currently an assistant professor in the gerontology division of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Her research focuses on socioeconomics status and obesity as important determinants of older-age disability, and it is this holistic view and far-ranging analysis of health issue cause-and-effects that she hopes to bring to her work in our nation’s capital, both this coming year and beyond.

“My main hope would be that we move toward more cross-sectoral collaboration-by that, I mean that policymakers will consider the health effects of things like cuts to energy assistance programs, and that hospitals will think about things like food insecurity when they discharge older adults home with recommendations about post-acute nutrition,” Alley said. “Too often, we treat these domains as if they’re totally separate. This type of research provides concrete evidence that policymakers can use to incorporate health into their decision-making processes for a whole variety of programs, many of which may be outside the traditional health policy sector.”

She credits her time at the USC Davis School of Gerontology for helping give her such a strong interdisciplinary perspective on older adult issues, and especially her work with Eileen Crimmins, Ph.D., for sparking her interest in health at the population level-and her mentors could not be prouder of her success.

“Dawn Alley is truly a multidisciplinary gerontologist who will make excellent use of this prestigious fellowship in health policy,” Crimmins said. “This is one more milestone in a soaring career.”