Alumni Update: Where are they now?
Name: Frances M. Yang
Degree(s) Received: BSG and PhD in Gerontology
Year of Graduation: 1999 and 2004
Job title: Faculty
Company: Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Hebrew SeniorLife
Location (city and state): Boston, MA
Please briefly describe your position and your company:
I am currently a faculty member at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, and at the Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife. My research entails using item response theory (IRT) to examine psychometric properties of mental health measures for older minorities with cardiovascular diseases and risk factors. I am interested in forming research collaborations to help reduce, and ultimately eliminate, minority health disparities in the United States.
Why did you choose to study gerontology at the USC Davis School?
My grandfather was an inspiration to me of someone who kept his mind and body active until he passed away at 100 years old. I wanted to know how people could live meaningful and healthy lives. I knew that by choosing gerontology, I would not only enter a growing field of research, but I wanted to use my research to help impact a vulnerable group of older Americans that was not as popular as studying children and adolescents.
How did you learn about your current position? Was it through an internship, a previous job, or a connection through USC?
I was first recruited into the position of the Co-Director of the Center of Excellence for Minority Aging and Health Research (COEMAHR) at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital through being the Chair of the Emerging Scholar and Professionals Organization at the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). The Chair of the Clinical Medicine section (now the Health Sciences section), Dr. Lew Lipsitz, introduced me to Dr. Sue E. Levkoff, Director of the COEMAHR. I was then appointed as faculty in both the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as the Institute of Aging Research at Hebrew SeniorLife.
Please briefly describe how the USC Davis School’s curriculum helped prepare you for your current position.
The PhD curriculum at USC Davis School of Gerontology helped prepare me to critically think and write. Most importantly, the theories on aging class helped me develop testable models and hypotheses to offer meaningful explanations for research findings. I am thankful to all the faculty for their time and efforts in providing critical feedback regarding my research; and the students who I have had the privilege of teaching to help develop my pedagogy. A special thanks to my mentor and advisor, Dr. Merril Silverstein, for taking me on as an undergraduate and graduate research assistant. His methodological and quantitative abilities exposed me to so many different types of advanced models and softwares in aging research, which really paved the way for my research career.
What advice would you offer to a prospective student interested in studying gerontology at USC?
I always tell my medical students who choose an emphasis in geriatrics that they are the cream of the crop because they are fulfilling a huge need in the growing field of gerontology with the increasing number of older adults in the population. It is not easy though. So be prepared for perseverance through some challenging times when you will question why you chose gerontology in the first place, but once you look at your future and the people you love around you who are aging and realize how you can make an impact on so many people, it will be worth it. Most importantly, get involved locally at USC and nationally at conferences so you can constantly see the impact you can have in gerontology and network with the leading gerontological researchers.
Return to Where Are They Now?
|
