Shelley I. White-Means, M.A., Ph.D.
Office Location:
Suite 205N Johnson Building
847 Monroe Avenue
Memphis, TN 38163
(901) 448-7666
(901) 448-4731 Fax
Current Office Hours:
by appointment
Email: swhiteme@utmem.edu
Shelley White-Means, Ph.D. earned her bachelor's degree in economics from Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) in 1977 and her M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill) in 1979 and 1983. Dr. White-Means served on the Consumer Economics Department faculty at Cornell University from 1981-1988. she returned to her home, Memphis, in 1988 to serve on the faculty of the Economics Department at the University of Memphis. Currently she is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Vice-Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Chair of the Health Science Administration Graduate Program at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee.
Dr. White-Means' research explores racial and ethnic disparities in the use of and access to health care, as well as provides insights on the essential medical care contributions of family caregivers (primarily women). Her work frequently documents the value of model stratification by race and ethnicity. Indeed, she shows that because race interacts with many of the measures typically used to explain medical utilization patterns, the interpretation of regression results that use unstratified models may inadvertently make conclusions about blacks and Hispanics that really explain the behavior of whites only. In the care giving literature, her work urges researchers to note that race and ethnicity are not synonymous, and if one assumes the are, then one may misinterpret empirical results.
Dr. White-Means' recent studies have documented the distinction between racial/ethnic differences and racial/ethnic disparities in health care utilization. She has found that among disabled older persons, not only do prescription drug utilization and visits to a physicians' office vary by race, but also racial disparities in the use of these services exist. There also are racial disparities in disabled elderly's use of assistive devices, with whites more likely to use home modifications devices (e.g., chairlifts on stairs or gab bars/handle bars at the sink) and blacks more likely to use portable devices (e.g., canes or portable toilets/bedside commodes). In contrast racial disparities do not exist in home health services for disabled elderly.
Honors:
National Academy of Social Insurance, Expert Panel on Long Term Care (2003-2005)
Convocation Speaker, Spelman College (2000)
Graduate of Leadership Memphis (1998)
Grinnell College Alumni Award (1997)
Board of Visitors Eminent Faculty Award, University of Memphis (1996)
Selected Publications:
"Trade-Offs Between Formal Home Health Care and Informal Family Care giving," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 2004, Vol. 25 (3): 335-358. Second Author: Rose M. Rubin.
"Is there Equity in the Home Health Care Market? Understanding Racial Patterns in the Use of Formal Home Health Care," Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 2004, Vol. 59B (4): S220-S229. Second Author: Rose M. Rubin.
"The Color of Health and Health Care." Business Perspectives, 2002, Vol. 14 (4): 16-21.
"Giving Incentives of Adult Children Who Care for Disabled Parents." Journal of Consumer Affairs, 2001, Vol. 35 (2): 364-389. Second Author: Gong Soog Hong.
"Medicare HMOs: The Promise and the Reality." 2001. In John B. Davis (eds.) Social Economics of Health Care. pp. 240-254. New York, NY: Routledge Publishers. First Author: Rose M. Rubin.
"Race, Disability, Assistive Devices: Sociodemographics or Discrimination?" In Edward O'Boyle, Special Edition, "The Social Economics of Discrimination and Other Injustices," International Journal of Social Economics, 2001, Vol. 28 (10/11/12): 927-941. First Author: Rose M. Rubin.
"Race Versus Ethnic Heritage in Models of Family Economic Decisions," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 2000, Vol. 21 (1): 65-86. First Author: Michael C. Thornton.
"Racial Patterns in the Elderly Persons' Use of Medical Services," Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 2000, Vo. 55 (2): S76-89.
"Income Distribution of Older Americans," Monthly Labor Review, 2000, (November): 19-30. First Author: Rose M. Rubin. Third Author: Luojia Mao Daniel.
"Consumer Preferences for Health Care Reform Options," Journal of Consumer Affairs, 1999, Vol. 33 (2): 237-253. First Author: Gong Soog Hong.
"The Continuing Significance of Race in Meeting the Health Care Needs of the Black Elderly." 1997. In Patrick Mason and Rhonda Williams (eds.) Race, Markets and Social Outcomes, pp. 117-129. Norwell, Massachusetts: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
"The Demands of Persons with Disabilities for Home Health Care and the Economic Consequences for Informal Caregivers," Social Science Quarterly, 1997, Vo. 78 (4): 955-972.
"The Gift of Chaos: An Opportunity for the Nation's Black Economists," (NEA Presidential Address, January 5, 1997) Review of Black Political Economy, 1996, Vo. 25 (1): 1-12.
"Opportunity Wages and Workforce Adjustments: Understanding the Costs of In-Home Elder Care," Journals of Gerontology, 1996, Vol. 51B (2): S82-S90. Second Author: Deborah Chollet.
"Racial and Ethnic Patterns of Hospital Emergency Room Use," 1996, Co-author Michael C. Thornton. In Lillie-Blanton, Leigh, and Alfaro-Correa (eds.) Achieving Equitable Access: Studies of Health Care Issues Affecting Hispanics and African Americans, pp. 143-162. Washington, DC: Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Commonwealth Fund.
"What Cost Savings Could Be Realized by Shifting Patterns of Use from Hospital Emergency Rooms to Primary Care Sites?" American Economic Review, 1995, Vol. 85 (2): 138-142. Second Author: Michael C. Thornton.
"Labour Supply of Informal Caregivers," International Review of Applied Economics, 1995, 9 (2): 192-205. First Author: Cyril Chang.
"Conceptualizing Race in Economic Models of Medical Utilization: A Case Study of Community-Based Elders and the Emergency Room," Health Services Research, 1995, Vol. 30 (1): 207-223.