Carroll Estes, PhD, FAAN
Professor Emeritus
Social Behavioral Sciences
School of Nursing

415-476-5832

Carroll L. Estes is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) where she founded and directed the campus-wide Institute for Health & Aging (1979-1998), and chaired the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (1981-1992) in the School of Nursing.

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Dr Estes is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and past President of three national organizations in aging: The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the American Society on Aging (ASA) and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). Dr. Estes is past-chair of the Board of Directors of The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and its Foundation. Currently she is Board Chair of the Center for Global Policy Solutions. She served as consultant to U. S. Commissioners of Social Security and to U. S. Senate and House Committees on Aging for three decades. In 2014 Estes received the University of California Medal, UCSF’s highest recognition. The League of Women Voters named Estes, “A Woman Who Could Be President” (San Francisco, 1998). The National Organization of Women (NOW) honored her as a “Woman of Action” (2012). Other academic honors include the UCSF Faculty Research Lecturer, The Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women, and both the School of Nursing’s Nahm Research Award and its Doctoral Mentor Award. Estes has received Distinguished Scholar Awards of the American Sociological Association, the Pacific Sociological Association. the American Public Health Association (APHA), the American Society on Aging (ASA), the Gerontological Society (GSA) and AGHE. For her scholarship and public service, she has awards from the National Senior Citizens Law Center, Sociologists for Women in Society, and Gray Panthers. She is honorary fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (FAAN). Her current research is on Social Security and Medicare policy, health reform, long term care, and elder women’s economic and health security. Credited as a founding scholar of the “political economy of aging” and “critical gerontology,” Estes is a writer and public speaker who has authored, co-authored, and co-edited 24 books including: The Aging Enterprise (1979), Social Policy and Aging (2001), Social Theory, Social Policy and Ageing (2003), Social Insurance and Social Justice: The Campaign Against Social Security and Medicare (2009), and Health Policy: Crisis and Reform (2013). Her book, The Long Term Care Crisis, was a 1994 Most Important Book (Choice Magazine). Her latest book is Critical Aging Policy: A to Z (Routledge, 2018). Dr. Estes’ peer reviewed research appears in The Journal of the American Medical Association, The Health Care Financing Review, Health Affairs, Milbank Quarterly, Social Science and Medicine, The American Journal of Public Health, The American Journal of Sociology, The Gerontologist, and other journals. Her edited volumes, The Nation’s Health (with Philip Lee) and Health Policy (with Charlene Harrington), have been adopted in 400 Schools of Medicine and Nursing. Estes received her A.B. from Stanford University, M.A. from Southern Methodist University, Ph.D. from the University of California, San Diego, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Russell Sage College. She has been visiting professor at the London School of Economics and the Sorbonne in Paris. Estes has one daughter, Duskie Lynn Estes, a son-in-law, John Stewart, both award winning chefs, and two grand-daughters, Brydie and MacKenzie Estes Stewart.

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Publications (15)

Top publication keywords:
Public AssistanceProfessional RoleSocial WelfareHousing for the ElderlyProgram EvaluationHealth Services for the AgedSocial SecurityPatient AdvocacyAccreditationGeriatricsPublic PolicyGeriatric NursingHealth Facility MergerSocial IdentificationLong-Term Care

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