Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH
Professor
Institute for Health & Aging
School of Nursing

elena.portacolone@ucs.eu 510-830-9309

Dr. Elena Portacolone is a Professor of Sociology in the Institute for Health & Aging and a Pepper Center Scholar at the Division of Geriatric Medicine at UCSF. She is also affiliated with the Philip Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, and the Global Health Sciences Institute, both at UCSF.

Her research aims at developing equitable policies and programs for older adults living alone with cognitive impairment in the United States, and worldwide. Dr. Portacolone is also evaluating national interventions to increase the representation of communities of color in clinical trials on dementia.

Dr. Portacolone completed her undergraduate degree in political sciences (international major) at the University of Turin, Italy. After working in the corporate sector in the United Kingdom, she completed an MPH degree at School of Public Health at UC Berkeley, an MBA degree at the Haas Business at UC Berkeley, and a PhD in Sociology in the Department of Social and Behavioral Science at UCSF. Dr. Portacolone is an alumna of the Butler-Williams program at the National Institute on Aging and of the Health Disparities Institute at the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Dr. Portacolone has led investigations that focus on the role of living alone as a social determinant of health, barriers and facilitators to services and supports for older adults living alone with dementia, increasing engagement of communities of color in dementia research, suicide, and social isolation. The majority of study participants in her studies belong to communities of color and often live alone. She has received extensive training in cognitive impairment, ethics, and advanced qualitative methods, and mixed methods. Dr. Portacolone founded the international network on living alone with cognitive impairment with the aim of promoting research on this topic.

Awards

  • Dale Schenk Alzheimer’s Association Research Roundtable Grant Award, Alzheimer’s Association, 2022
  • Research Loan Repayment Program, National Institute on Aging, 2017
  • KL2 First-year Scholar Program, UCSF Clinical & Translational Science Institute, 2016
  • Silver Jubilee Scholarship, American Association University Women, 2010
  • Anselm Strauss Fellowship, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, 2010
  • Carroll Estes Fellowship, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, 2010
  • Graduate Dean’s Health Science Award, Graduate Division, UCSF, 2010
  • Virginia Olesen Fellowship, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, 2009
  • Sigma Xi Scholarship, Sigma Xi, 2009
  • Soroptimist Fellowship, Soroptimist Association of Northern California, 2009
  • White Fellowship, UC Humanities Research Institute, 2009
  • Graduate Dean’s Health Science Award, Graduate Division, UCSF, 2008
  • Graduate Dean’s Health Science Award, Graduate Division, UCSF, 2007
  • Andrew Scholarship Fund, School of Nursing, UCSF, 2007
  • Sigma Xi Scholarship, Sigma Xi, 2007
  • Lynn Adamson Memorial Scholarship, Women Health Care Executives, 2007
  • Graduate Dean’s Health Science Award, Graduate Division, UCSF, 2006
  • Graduate Dean’s Health Science Award, Graduate Division, UCSF, 2005
  • LifeLong Medical Care Scholarship, LifeLong Medical Care, 2005
  • David Starkweather Fellowship in Health Services Management, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, 2003

Education & Training

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  • Ph.D. Sociology University of California, San Francisco 2011
  • Master Business Administration (MBA) University of California, Berkeley 2004
  • Master Public Health (MPH) University of California, Berkeley 2004
  • Laurea Political Sciences Universita’ degli Studi di Torino 1995

Interests

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  • Living arrangements
  • Aging in place
  • Artificial intelligence applied to dementia research
  • Cognitive impairment
  • Health disparities

Websites

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Grants and Projects

Publications (44)

Top publication keywords:
Ethics, ResearchDementiaSingle PersonFriendsArtificial IntelligenceSingingTechnologyCognitive DysfunctionSocial IsolationTrustPersonal AutonomyEuthanasiaBioethical IssuesResearch SubjectsIndependent Living