Rate My Professor Denise Burnette

Burnette’s research program centers on global mental health, emphasizing the health, psychosocial well-being, and service needs of older adults in low-resource settings. Her projects address psychological distress and quality of life post-disasters like Hurricane María and COVID-19 in Puerto Rico, flourishing and life satisfaction in Mongolia, social cohesion in China, and age-friendly communities in the U.S. Notable publications include “Gender-related measurement invariance on the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) for global mental distress with older adults in Puerto Rico” (Burnette et al., Archives of Public Health, 2024), “Living alone, social cohesion and quality of life among older adults in rural and urban China” (Burnette et al., International Psychogeriatrics, 2020), and “Varying appraisals of elder mistreatment among victims” (Burnes et al., Journals of Gerontology Series B, 2017). She has received the Career Achievement Award from the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work (2023)—the first also to receive its Faculty Achievement Award (1999)—Fellow status in the Society for Social Work & Research (2023), American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (2013), Gerontological Society of America (1998), Senior Fulbright Scholarships in India (2006-07) and Botswana (2012-13), Fulbright Specialist (2021-2025), and served as International Scholar for Open Society Foundations (2008-2015). Burnette has led as director of VCU’s Ph.D. program, immediate past president of the Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education in Social Work, and conducted extensive international capacity-building through teaching, mentoring, and workshops.