Lauren Bishop’s research uses epidemiological, advanced computational, and qualitative methods to characterize disparities in health and wellbeing in adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and as they age. Her National Institutes of Health-funded program of research focuses specifically on autistic adults and how their unique mental, physical and social needs can be properly understood over the life course, to inform treatment, services, policy, and best practices. Her current projects focus on: characterizing heterogeneity in physical and mental health outcomes using a representative sample of autistic adult Medicaid beneficiaries; understanding how middle aged and older autistic adults experience health and make decisions about how and if to interface with the healthcare system; and investigating whether aging is early or accelerated in autism and how that is related to health, cognitive and brain outcome among autistic adults.
A word from Stephanie Robert, Director of the Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work:
Congratulations to Dr. Bishop, who has distinguished herself as an outstanding scholar with rigorous, timely scholarship on autism among older adults. Moreover, she has demonstrated excellence and commitment to the next generation, with innovative courses and mentorship that will serve both social work practitioners and research scholars. She’s a gem!