Kate Lorig is a Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Director of the Stanford Patient Education Research Center. She has a masters in nursing and a doctorate in public health with a specialty in health education.
For more than two decades, using a public health approach, she has developed and evaluated community-based patient education programs in English and Spanish for people with chronic conditions including arthritis, heart disease, lung disease, diabetes and AIDS. In recent years this work has been extended to similar programs offered via the Internet.
Her present research includes the development and evaluation of programs for cancer survivors and as well as for caregivers of people with PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other cognitive impairments. There programs are offered largely over the Internet. Most recently she has been involved in studying how to translate programs from the academic setting to the larger community.
The Center for Advancing Health works to increase people's engagement in their health care.
All Americans act to fully benefit from their health care.
Work with policy makers, clinicians, and communities to more effectively support people's engagement in their health care.
Produce and disseminate research news stories that people can use to inform decisions about their health and health care.
Offer Be a Prepared Patient resources to help people find good health care and make the most of it.
Since it was founded in 1992, the Center for Advancing Health has aimed to increase people's engagement in their health and health care.
While advances in medical knowledge have been responsible for steady increases in the length and quality of life of Americans, the potential of health care to improve individual and population health in the future rests increasingly in the hands of individuals. Whether we are sick or well, we will not benefit from the expertise of health professionals and the technologies they deploy unless we participate actively and knowledgably in our own care. More