Fellows

Andrew E. Scharlach, PhD

Inducted in 2013

Bio

Andrew E. Scharlach is Professor of Social Welfare at the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds the Eugene and Rose Kleiner Chair in Aging and directs the Gerontology specialization in the School of Social Welfare. He also serves as Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services, which conducts research designed to inform development of innovative and effective services for older adults.

Professor Scharlach has published extensively on issues pertaining to the well-being of older adults and their families, including aging-friendly communities, long-term care services, work and family responsi¬bilities, bereavement, and gerontological social work education. In addition to more than 75 articles, he is the author of Elder Care and the Work Force: Blueprint for Action (with B. Lowe and E. Schneider; Lexington Books), Controversial Issues in Aging (with L. Kaye; Allyn & Bacon), and Families and Work: New Directions in the Twenty-First Century (with K. Fredriksen-Goldsen; Oxford University Press), and Healthy Aging in Sociocultural Perspective (with Kazumi Hoshino; Routledge).

Professor Scharlach’s research examines the physical and social contexts that are conducive to constructive outcomes for elderly persons. Under Professor Scharlach’s leadership, the Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services is engaged in a multi-year program of research examining innovative initiatives for helping communities to become more “aging-friendly.” Particular attention is being given to the “Village” model and other initiatives that engage older adults in cooperative community-based efforts to promote aging-in-place. The Center produced the first-ever Compendium of Community Aging Initiatives, documenting the various efforts across the country to help communities become more aging friendly, as well as a web-based international conference on Creating Aging-Friendly Communities.

Professor Scharlach also investigated the service needs of family caregivers and examined implementation of the National Family Caregiver Support Program in California. This project included a statewide household survey of family caregivers, community-level needs assessment and resources, as well as a study of caregiver service utilization and its impact, with particular attention to cultural variations and vulnerable care situations.

Profesor Scharlach’s other scholarly activities have included a critical examination of case management as a mechanism for consumer protection and quality assurance in long-term care insurance and long-term care integration, an analysis of current and future needs of California’s elderly population which served as the basis for California’s Statewide Strategic Plan on Aging, and development and implementation of model training programs in gerontological social work. In addition, Professor Scharlach served for seven years as a gubernatorial appointee on the California Commission on Aging, and currently serves as Faculty Advisor to the Institute for Senior Living.