Rate My Professor karen Spencer

Spencer's research employs qualitative methods to investigate medical decision making, health disparities, patient-provider relationships, and patient adherence across conditions such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, schizophrenia, and depression. Her current focus examines the social context of end-of-life decision making in the United States, including influences from healthcare systems, payers, providers, and social networks on hospice utilization. Notable publications include 'High Stakes Treatment Negotiations Gone Awry: The importance of interactions for understanding treatment advocacy and patient resistance' (Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2024, with Alexandra Tate), 'Extending the Case for a “Health Disparities Research Industrial Complex”: A Response to Ezell' (Social Science and Medicine, 2024, with Emily Hammad Mrig), 'The Many Faces of Medical Treatment Imperatives: Biopower and the Cultural Authority of Medicine in Late-Life Treatment Decisions in the U.S.' (Sociology of Health and Illness, 2022), and 'Transforming Patient Compliance Research in an Era of Biomedicalization' (Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 2018). She has contributed to public discourse through features in The New York Times, NPR affiliates, Cosmopolitan, and others on topics like medical gaslighting and end-of-life care. Spencer teaches courses including Theoretical Perspectives in Health and Behavioral Sciences I, Applications of the Health and Behavioral Sciences, and Social Determinants of Health, and previously served as Past Chair of the Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.