Karen Bullock has received the Richard Payne Outstanding Achievement in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The organization presents the award to a health care provider who has demonstrated a “strong, lasting, personal, and professional commitment to improving care for diverse, vulnerable, and underrepresented patient populations.”
Dr. Bullock currently serves as the Louis McMahon Endowed Professor in the School of Social Work at Boston College. She first joined the faculty at Boston College in 2022, and holds a joint appointment in the Global Health and Common Good program. In addition to her positions with Boston College, Dr. Bullock is the John A. Hartford Faculty Scholar in the Department of Psychosocial Oncology and Palliative Care at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Her research focuses on disparities and inequity in health care, specifically workforce development, aging, and health sustainability.
“Richard Payne taught me the importance of being steadfast,” said Dr. Bullock. “He was interdisciplinary in his approach, and getting to know and work with him was critical to my interest in bringing a social work perspective to studying health disparities. His is a legacy that I and many others seek to carry on.”
Dr. Bullock graduated from North Carolina State University where she majored in social work. She received her master’s degree in social work from Columbia University in New York and her Ph.D. in sociology and social work from Boston University.