Sharon Williams, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Phone: (919 -966-9462
Fax: (919) 966-0100
Email: sharon_w_williams@med.unc.edu

Education

• Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies
• M.S. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• B.S. East Carolina University

Personal Statement

Dr. Sharon Wallace Williams joined the Division's Faculty in the Fall of 2003 as an assistant professor. She is also affiliated with the University's Center on Aging and Diversity as a research scientist. Dr. Williams received a BS in Speech Language Auditory Pathology from East Carolina University, a M. S. in Audiology for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She also completed a gerontology postdoctoral fellowship at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Williams worked as an audiologist and taught several undergraduate speech and hearing classes at Shaw Universities in Raleigh, NC for seven years.

Her current research focuses broadly on aging, the family, and chronic disability and/or disease. Current funding extends her research to include end of life experiences of older adults and their family caregivers. She is principal investigator of the pilot study "Family Caregivers of Stroke Patients' with Dr. Ana Felix of UNC's Stroke Clinic. Her work has appeared in The Journals of Gerontology, The Gerontologist, Aging and Mental Health, and Family Relations.

Courses Taught

• SPHS 840 Aging and Communication Disorders
• SPHS 834 Counseling for Individuals with Communication

Disorders and their Families

Recent Publications

DiBari, M., Suggs, P.K., Holmes, L.P., Williams, S.W., Pahor, M & Jackson, S. (In press). Research partnership with underserved African-American communities to improve the health of older persons with disability: a pilot qualitative study. Aging Clinical Experimental Research.

Williams, S.W., Williams, C.S., Zimmerman, S., Sloane, P.D., Preisser, J.S., Boustani, M. & Reed. P.S. (2005). Characteristics associated with mobility limitation in long-term care residents with dementia. The Gerontologist, 45, Special Issue I, 62-67.

Port, C.L., Zimmerman, S., Williams, C.S., Dobbs, D., Preisser, J.S., & Williams, S. (2005). Families Filling the Gap: Comparing Family Involvement for Assisted Living and Nursing Home Residents with Dementia, The Gerontologist, 45, Special Issue I, 87-95.

Dilworth-Anderson, Brummett, B.H., Goodwin, P., Willaims, S.W.,Williams, R.B., & Siegler, I.C. (2005). Effects of race on cultural justifications for carefiving. Journals of Gerontology,59, S138-S145.

Dilworth-Anderson, P., Goodwin, P., & Williams, S.W. (2004). Can culture help explain the physical health effects of caregiving over time among African American caregivers? Journal of Gerontology: Social Science, 59, S138-S145.

Harper, M.A., Espeland, M.A., Dugan, E., Meyer, R., Lane, K., & Williams, S. (2004). Racial disparity in pregnancy-related mortality following a live birth outcome. Annals of Epidemiology;14, 274-279.

Dilworth-Anderson P. & Williams, S.W. (2004). Recruitment strategies for longitudianl African American caregiving research: The family caregiving project. Journal of Aging and Health, 16, 137S-156S.

Williams, S.W., Dilworth-Anderson, P., & Goodwin, P. (2003). Caregiver role strain: The contribution of other roles and available resources in African American women. Aging and Mental Health, 7,103-112.

Williams, S.W. & Dilworth-Anderson, P.(2002). Systems of social support in families who care for dependent African American elders. The Gerontologist, 42, 224-236.

Book Chapters

Goodwin, P. Y., Williams, S. W., & Dilworth-Anderson, P. (2006). The role of resources in the emotional health of African American women: Rural and urban comparisons. In R. T. Coward, L.A. Davis, C.H. Gold, H. Smiciklas-Wright, L.E. Thorndyke, & F.W. Vondracek, (Eds.). Rural women's health: Mental, behavioral, and physical issues (pp. 179 - 196). New York: Springer.

Williams, S.W. & Dilworth-Anderson, P. (2005). Chronic disease and African American families. In D.R. Crane & E.S. Marshall (Eds.). Handbook of Families and Health: Interdisciplinary Perspective (pp. 81-95). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publication.

Dilworth-Anderson, P., & Williams, S.W. (2004). Caregiver stress. In N. Anderson (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior (pp.158-162). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dilworth-Anderson, P., & Williams, S.W. Caregiver stress. (2004) In N. Anderson (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior. Sage Publications.