Mark Luborsky
Professor of Gerontology, Director of Aging & Health Disparities Research program leader, Professor of Anthropology, and Co-Director, SWAN Social Work and Anthropology doctoral program
Mark Luborsky
Bio Sketch
Mark R. Luborsky is Professor of Gerontology at the Institute of Gerontology, and Professor of Anthropology, and also serves as Co-Director, SWAN Social Work and Anthropology doctoral program. He is also a Foreign Professor (past) of Gerontology, Dept of Neurobiology, Care Sciences & Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2022, Luborsky was elected to the WSU Academy of Scholars - the highest recognition that can be bestowed upon WSU faculty members by their peers For seven years he served as 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. He serves as a member of the multi-site surgery trial Data and Safety Monitoring Board NIH/NIAM, and also is a member of the NIH/CIHB study section review panel (2010-2014). Luborsky is a Co-Founder of the Institute for Information Technology & Culture. He currently serves on the NIH/NIAMS Data Safety Monitoring Board surgical trial for hip fracture repair.
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 served as a regular member for over 10 years. He was elected to a three year term as Secretary/Treasurer of the Society for Medical Anthropology
Research Focus
His research focuses on life-course 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 two review panels. 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.
Ongoing multidisciplinary work in distressed urban settings examines lives lived within a heritage of toxic industrial chemicals. Studies are designed to promote wise use of Michigan rivers and evaluate intersections of cultural, biological, and behavioral aspects of exposures and harms from bioaccumulative toxins. The work features leadership in use of local teams comprised of older and young Detroit residents for harm reduction, such as The Riverwalkers. Another initiative currently running is "Follow the Lines: Environmental Legacy, Health & Fishing the Detroit River'" a multi-media interactive educational community museum exhibit.
Currently, working with wounded active duty military service members with spinal cord injuries he is seeking the critical features shaping long-term outcomes and social integration in a project with his collaborators Cathy Lysack, Ph.D. at the IOG and Seth Messinger, PhD (UMBC) with support from the US Department of Defense.
A recently completed 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.
Actively dedicated to training, he is co-director of "Global Bridges to Advance Health Care Research Careers for Junior Researchers," the Strategic Research Program in Health Care Sciences (SFO-V) at Karolinska Institutet a Sweden nationally funded by SFO-V initiative for junior researchers international development, under program Bridging Research and Practice for Better Health at Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Umea University (UmU). Since 2002 he serves on the Michigan Urban Center for African American Research (MCUAAAR) a University of Michigan and Wayne State University collaboration to empirically investigate and reduce health disparities among minority older adults, funded by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health.
Education
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
Office Location
226 KnappGrants
Principal Investigator
Developing a Meaningful Life: Social Reintegration of Active Service Members and Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury. US DoD/Army Medical Command 2011-2013
Downsizing Possession for Residential Moves in Later Life , National Institute on Aging, 2008-2011
Hip Fracture: Cultural Loss and Long-term Reintegration, National Institute on Aging, 2006-2010.
Adult-Onset Mobility Loss: Personal Meaning & Wellbeing, National Institute on Aging / National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, 1999-2003
Meaning of Self-Reported Health: Definitions & Patterns, National Institute on Aging, 1997-2002
Increasing Breast Cancer Screening, Risk Assessment, and Preventive Services Use Among African American Women. State of Michigan, Dept of Community Health, Michigan Cancer Consortium Initiative, 2001-2002
Polio Disability: Personal Meaning, Wellbeing, Age. National Institute of Child Health Human Development, 1993-1997
Co-Principal Investigator
Using a System-wide Database to Reduce Workplace Violence in Hospitals.CDC/National Institute Occupational Health & Safety. Co-Inv 2011-2015
Bio-monitoring of Persistent Toxic Substances in Michigan Urban Fish Eaters. CDC / Mich Dept Community Health, Div. Environmental &Occupational Epidemiology 2011-2013
Improving community awareness for Detroit River Fish Advisories. Erb Family Foundation, 2012-2013
Adherence to HAART Among HIV+ African Americans. National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Disease, 2001-2006
HIV Risk Behavior By African-Americans Receiving Protease Inhibitor Therapy, National Institute on Mental Health, 1999-2001
Office Phone
313-664-2639Professional Associations
American Anthropological Association (Fellow)
Gerontological Society of America
American Public Health Association
Society for Psychological Anthropology
Society for Disability Studies
Society for Cultural Anthropology
Society for Applied Anthropology (Fellow)
Association for Anthropology & Gerontology
Honors and Awards
*Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award, Wayne State University, 2008
*Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award, Wayne State University. 2005
*President's Exceptional Service Award, Wayne State University, May, 2000
Invited Mentor, Academia Sinica, Taiwan China, funded by Chinese National Science Council. National workshop for junior faculty "Encountering with the Masters: Advance Training" 2008
Plenary Speaker, Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research: Improving the Quality of Science and Addressing Health Disparities, Gerontological Society of American, Washington, DC funded by NIH and American Public Health Association. 2004
Keynote, 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, & National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. Pacific Grove, CA, 2001.
Foreign Visiting Scientist, Karolinska Institute, Neurotech, Stockholm, Sweden. June 2001
STINT Foundation Visiting Scientist/Scholar (Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education) Karolinska Institute, Sweden. 2001-2002
Section Chair, Invited, National Institutes on Health, "Towards Higher Levels of Analyses: Progress and Promise in Research on Social and Cultural Dimensions of Health," 2000. Bethesda, MD
Keynote, "Vices and Virtues in the Practice of Qualitative Research" Center for Outcomes Research, national research fellows training program. University Illinois-Chicago, October 2000.
Invited, NIH Qualitative Research Working Group, Neuroscience Center, Rockville MD, 1999
Publications
Arnetz, J., Hamblin, L Ager, J, Aranyos, D, Essemacher, L, Upfal, M, Luborsky, M. (2013) Using database reports to reduce workplace violence: Perceptions of hospital stakeholders. WORK: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment & Rehabilitation (in press).
Johansson, K, Rudman, D., Mondaca, M., Park, M., Luborsky, M., Josephsson, S., Asaba, E.. 2013. Moving Beyond 'Aging In Place' to Understand Migration and Aging: Place Making and the Centrality Of Occupation. Journal of Occupational Science, (in press).
Neufeld, S., Machacova, K., Mossey, J., Luborsky, M. 2013. Walking Ability and Its Relationship to Self-rated Health in Later Life. Clinical Gerontologist 36(1):17-32.
Ekerdt, D, Luborsky, M. & Lysack, C. 2012. Safe Passage of Goods and Self in Later Life. Ageing & Society. 32 (5): 833-850.
Luborsky, M. Lysack, C. Cross, K. VanNuil, J. 2011 Finding, Leaving, Refashioning One's Place: Later Life Household Downsizing. Journal of Aging Studies. 25(3): 243-252.
Sankar, A, Nevedal, A, Neufeld, S, Luborsky, M 2011. What Do We Know About Older Adults and HIV: A Review Of Social And Behavioral Literature. AIDS Care 23(10):1187-1207.
Arnetz, J. Zhdanova, L Elsouhag, D, Lichtenberg, P, Luborsky, M, Arnetz, B. 2011. Organizational Climate Determinants of Resident Safety Culture in Nursing Homes. The Gerontologist 51(6):739-749.
Sankar, A, Neufeld, S., Berry, R., Luborsky, M. 2011. African American Rationales for Anti-retroviral Adherence. AIDS Patient Care and STDs. 25(9): 547-555.
Ekerdt, D, Luborsky, M. & Lysack, C. 2011. Safe Passage of Goods and Self in Later Life. Ageing & Society. 32 (5): 833-850.
Machacova, K., Neufeld, S., Mossey, J., Luborsky, M. Walking Ability and Its Relationship to Self-rated Health in Later Life. Clinical Gerontologist 36(1):17-32.
Sankar, A, Neufeld, S., Berry, R., Luborsky, M. 2011. African American Rationales for Anti-retroviral Adherence. AIDS Patient Care and STDs. 25(9): 547-555.
Arnetz, J. Zhdanova, L Elsouhag, D, Lichtenberg, P, Luborsky, M, Arnetz, B. 2011. Organizational Climate Determinants of Resident Safety Culture in Nursing Homes. The Gerontologist (in press).
Sankar, A, Neufeld, S., Berry, R., Luborsky, M. 2011. African American Rationales for Anti-retroviral Adherence. AIDS Patient Care and STDs. (in press).
McMullen, K., and Luborsky, M. (2006). Self-Rated Health as Cultural and Identity Process: African-American Elders' Health Evaluative Rationales. The Gerontologist, 46(4):431-438.
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.