Debra Street
Professor and Chair
Education:
PhD (1996), Florida State University
Research Interests: Health and income security; long-term care; families, aging and the life course; comparative public policies/welfare state; social dynamics of interdisciplinary research; mixed-methods research design
Debra Street, Professor of Sociology, received the 2011 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. For additional information on the 2012 UB Semester in London program she directs, contact her (dastreet@buffalo.edu) or the UB Study Abroad office for further details.
Undergraduate instruction:
SOC 467 Sociology of Social Policy
SOC 477 Sociology of Health Care
SOC 368 Sociology of Food
SOC 322 Introduction to Medical Sociology
SOC 304 Sociology of Aging
SOC 293 Research Methods
SOC 203 Social Problems
SOC 101 Introduction to Sociology
Graduate instruction:
SOC 606 Graduate Research Methods
SOC 582 Mid-life and Later Adulthood: Canadian and American Experiences
SOC 555 Sociology of Aging: Theory and Research
SOC 582 Health, Life Course, and Public Policy
SOC 541 Sociology of Health and Illness
Bio:
Debra Street researches health and income security over the life course. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at UB’s North Campus in Amherst, in the UB sociology degree program in Singapore, and for a unique semester-long study abroad program in London. Her published research focuses on health and retirement policies; the health care workforce; long-term residential care; and the impact of planning, public programs and tax policies on health and income security. Street collaborates on several ongoing projects. The Mississippi Physician Workforce Study (MSMD, with Jeralynn Cossman, Mississippi State University) is a multi-year study focusing on health workforce issues, (recruitment and retention, the experiences of minority and rural physicians, and physician attitudes towards health care reform) in the Nation's poorest state. The Arizona Mature Worker Study (with Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen, UB) documents the roles of labor market intermediaries and recent labor market experiences of workers aged 50 and older. The Florida Study of Assisted Living (with Jill Quadagno [FSU] and Stephanie Burge [U of Oklahoma]) analyzes the experiences of AL residents and documents characteristics of Florida’s long-term care industry. A new project, exploring weather-related vulnerabilities of elderly individuals in four season climates (with Daniel Hess and Beverly McLean, UB) is getting under way. Debra Street’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute on Aging, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. She co-chairs the Health, Health Policy and Health Services Division of the Society for the Study of Social Problems (2009-2011), and is an Executive Council member (2009-2012) for the Section on Aging and the Life Course of the American Sociological Association. Debra Street is an honorary member of Golden Key, a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. She is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow (2011-2013) at King’s College, London.
