Katy Cao

Dr. Katy (Qiuchang) Cao is an assistant professor at the College of Social Work and a faculty associate of Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy. Dr. Cao received her Ph.D. in social work from the Ohio State University with a focus on aging and health. Her scholarship centers on improving the physical, mental, cognitive, and social health of older adults using qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, and network analysis. Her scholarship on Age-friendly Communities highlights the importance of the community’s social/built environment in the health and well-being among older adults. She also conducts secondary data analysis of nationally representative datasets (e.g., Health and Retirement Study) to examine the social mechanisms (e.g., education, employment) across the life course that contribute to health disparities among older adults.