Elena Portacolone, PhD MBA MPH
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Visiting Scholar at the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at UC Berkeley
Dr. Portacolone received her Masters In Business Administration and Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Portacolone studies community-dwelling older adults from different ethno-racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, and countries. She is particularly interested in social policies that allow individuals to remain in their community as they age. For her dissertation entitled Precariousness among older adults living alone in San Francisco: An ethnography, Dr. Portacolone studied 47 San Franciscans living alone. In this work she argued that social policies and programs are not accommodating the needs of a growing number of older solo dwellers in the United States. At the moment she is writing articles out of her ethnography, and she started assessing the needs of older adults living alone with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in collaboration with the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF.
Dr. Portacolone studies community-dwelling older adults from different ethno-racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, and countries. She is particularly interested in social policies that allow individuals to remain in their community as they age. For her dissertation entitled Precariousness among older adults living alone in San Francisco: An ethnography, Dr. Portacolone studied 47 San Franciscans living alone. In this work she argued that social policies and programs are not accommodating the needs of a growing number of older solo dwellers in the United States. At the moment she is writing articles out of her ethnography, and she started assessing the needs of older adults living alone with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in collaboration with the Memory and Aging Center at UCSF.
Department:
Institute for Health & Aging
Selected Publications:
- ESTES, C. & PORTACOLONE, E. 2009. Maggie Kuhn: Social Theorist of Radical Gerontology. International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, 29.
- KLINENBERG, E., TORRES, S. & PORTACOLONE, E. 2012. Aging Alone in America. New York: Council on Contemporary Families.
- PHILLIPSON, C., ESTES, C. & PORTACOLONE, E. 2009. Health And Development: The Role Of International Organizations In Population Ageing. In: GATTI, A. & YACK, D. (eds.) Health and Development: The Role of International Organizations Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
- PORTACOLONE, E. 2011b. The myth of independence for older Americans living alone in the Bay Area of San Francisco: A critical reflection Ageing and Society, 31, 803-828.
- PORTACOLONE, E. 2011c. Precariousness among older adults living alone in San Francisco: An ethnography. PhD Dissertation, University of California in San Francisco.
- PORTACOLONE, E. Submitted-a. Living alone in older age in urban America: An ethnography. Ethnography.
Contact Info
Office Phone:
510-830-9309
Office Fax:
415-476-3915
Office Address:
3333 California Street, Suite 340 Box 0646
San Francisco, CA , CA
94118