Debra Umberson is professor of sociology and director of the Center on Aging & Population Sciences at the University of Texas-Austin. Her research focuses on social factors that influence population health with a particular emphasis on aging and life course change, stress and social ties, gender and sexuality, and race. Her recent research examines how marital relationships affect health-related behavior and health care, and how those processes vary across gay, lesbian, and heterosexual unions. Read moreIn her current research, she focuses on racial/ethnic differences in exposure to the death of family members across the life course and the implications for long-term health and mortality risk. Dr. Umberson is an elected Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, recipient of the American Sociological Association’s 2015 Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award for research on aging, the 2020 Leo G. Reeder Award for Distinguished Contributions to Medical Sociology, and the 2020 Distinguished Career Award for research on families.
