Sarah E. Patterson, PhD

THE WORK-FAMILY RESEARCHERS NETWORK (WFRN) EARLY CAREER SCHOLAR MENTORING

Vedavati Patwardhan, PhD

Vedavati Patwardhan is a quantitative researcher focusing on gender inequality and health in low and middle-income countries, with an emphasis on women's economic empowerment. Vedavati's research has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, including Health Economics, The Lancet Public Health, and The Journal of Development Studies. Currently, Vedavati is a Research Consultant with the GENDER Project at the Center on Gender Equity and Health at the University of California, San Diego. In this role, she leads survey-based research on women's household decision-making agency, social norms, and economic inclusion in India. Her other research has examined global and regional disparities in health outcomes between men and women over the life course and assessed the effect of cash transfers on child nutrition in India. Previously, Vedavati was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Management from the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Washington.

Lili Vargha, PhD

Lili Vargha is a sociologist and demographer, currently a Postdoctoral Researcher (Lecturer and Researcher) at the Institute of Sociology, University of Vienna. Previously, she was a Humboldt Research Fellow at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Her research focuses on comprehensively measuring the gendered economy, with particular emphasis on the trajectories of unpaid care and domestic work, employment, and earnings as well as the direct and indirect costs of childbearing. She examines these topics on different levels (such as individual, couple-level, family). Her work explores economic lifecycles, life courses, and the redistribution of resources and transfers across socio-economic groups, genders, age groups, and generations.

Lili employs advanced statistical techniques and leverages diverse comparative data sources from around the world to investigate these themes using both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. Her work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Population and Development Review, Demographic Research, Journal of the Economics of Ageing, and Socius. She enjoys teaching courses on life courses, gender, quantitative methods and scientific writing.

THE PATTERSON LAB: FAMILIES, CAREGIVING, AND DEMENTIA

The Patterson Lab:

In the fall of 2023, I was able to meet a personal goal of establishing a lab, where I could mentor multiple students together at various levels. Projects focus on families, caregiving, and dementia - including both attitudes and behavior.

Please meet the students I am working with currently:

Kelsi C.

I am a PhD student in Sociology and a graduate student trainee in social demography at the Population Studies Center (University of Michigan). I am working in the Patterson Lab on the family caregiving focus group study. My research addresses comparative gender inequality, family change, and work-family dynamics in the United States and East Asia. Read more here.

Yongxin S.

I am a PhD candidate at the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, currently pursuing a concentration in sociology and a minor in demography. I am also a graduate student affiliate at the Center for the Study of Inequality (CSI) and the Cornell Population Center (CPC). I am broadly interested in family demography and health inequalities. Read more here.

Olivia M.

I am a rising senior and International Studies major, with a Gender an Health minor. I am working in the Patterson lab as a UROP Research Scholar - a program that is designed for students to work with their UROP mentor for a second year. I continues to assist with the focus group study. I also recently published an independent essay focused on gender and sexuality in Greek Life.

Samantha P.

I am a rising junior intending to major in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience with a minor in the Sociology of Health and Medicine on a Pre-Medical track. I am working in the Patterson lab as a UROP first year student, assisting with literature review on the meaning of family, transcript work, and focus groups. I have a passion for learning about human experiences as well as the identities and resources that affect one's health and experience of the medical system.

Faith S.

I am a rising sophomore and a Biopsychology Cognition and Neuroscience major on a pre-med track. I am working in the Patterson lab as a UROP first year student, assisting with literature review for a project on attitudes toward older adults with dementia. I love to watch movies and try new foods!

Siraad B.

I am a Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology major on a Pre-Medical track with a passion for immunology. I am working as a UROP first-year student in the Patterson lab on understanding Community Advisory Boards and their role in connecting research and community. I love learning about different cultures, playing guitar, learning languages, and meeting new people!

Other graduate student mentoring

I regularly participate as a member of the University of Michigan Sociology graduate student-led Inequality and Social Demography (ISD) workshop providing feedback on projects in progress.

I have designed an informal "reviewer-in-training" program for one-on-one reviews of manuscripts with graduate students. To date, I have worked with four different graduate students on this process. The reviews have been conducted at a variety of journal types, including health, aging, and policy journals.

I have provided direct feedback to graduate students who are working in my area of research including at the University of Michigan, but also at other universities.

Previous UROP students: Fall 2017 - Summer 2023

During the summer of 2023, I worked with Olivia M., an International Studies major and a Gender and Health minor, through the UROP Women and Gender Summer Fellowship Program. Olivia worked on a focus group study, including putting together recruitment materials (e.g., flyers, an eligibility screener, informed consent documents), recruiting, and assisting with conducting the focus groups.

During the 2022-2023 school year, I worked with Avery C., on literature review, codebooks, and survey item reviews regarding attitudes toward care for older adults. These materials were used to document study measures used in a forthcoming paper.

From fall 2020 to spring 2022, I co-mentored Nora L., a political science major alongside Dr. Mengyao Hu. Nora conducted literature reviews, survey item review, and assisted with writing a co-authored, published paper. In addition, I hired Nora during the summer of 2021 on a project about families and care for an older adult with dementia with generous funding from the Institute for Social Research (ISR) Next Generation Small Grant Award Weinberg Endowments.

During the 2019-2020 school year I worked with Andrew A. on literature review and secondary research as a UROP Research Scholar. We collaborated on a published book chapter. Andrew is currently completing a Master's in Social Work at the University of Michigan.

Population Association of America (PAA) 2024

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