Lori Simon-Rusinowitz

From 1995-2013, Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz served as Research Director for the three-state Cash & Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation, the twelve-state Next Steps replication project, and the National Resource Center on Participant-Directed Services. These national programs involved designing, implementing, and evaluating a consumer-directed approach to personal care services for people of all ages with disabilities. This approach, also called participant- and self-directed, emphasizes individual goals and preferences for people who need help with personal activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating.

This applied policy research played a key role in introducing consumer-direction to the aging community and informed the current focus on patient-centered health services. Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz also led background research exploring self-direction and behavioral health services. She has published and presented extensively on these national projects.

Building on her previous experience, Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz is currently addressing livable communities (also called age-friendly communities and communities for a lifetime). To launch the implementation of unfunded 2011 Maryland legislation, “Maryland Communities for a Lifetime,” she wrote a policy brief for the Maryland Department of Aging and presented findings to Maryland audiences. She led a team in conducting a needs assessment of low-income, racially/ethnically diverse elders to inform the development of community services in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

She also led a Community Health Needs Assessment for two hospitals in Prince George’s County. Her Health and Aging Policy Fellowship project focused on health, housing, and social support services in communities for a lifetime. Based at the U.S. D.H.H.S. Administration for Community Living, and working in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), she led an interagency team to develop a national webinar highlighting successful programs using housing as a platform for health and social support services.

Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz has continued to work with these three federal agencies, and the Department of Transportation, to address chronic disease self-management education programs for low-income elders and adults with disabilities in public housing. Working with an interagency team, she developed a second webinar addressing this topic. She recently completed a third interagency project with these federal agencies that provided support to a seven-state, HUD-funded demonstration and evaluation of a model that focuses on housing as a platform for health, transportation, and social services.

Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz has extensive experience leading teams in designing and conducting research that involves multiple methods of data collection. She recently participated in a multiple methods study of the health care needs in the Maryland Middle Shore Region. For this project, she led a team in conducting focus groups with community residents in this five-county rural Eastern Shore region.  

In addition to her research, Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz teaches Health Policy and Politics and Qualitative Research Methods. Building on a pilot community program evaluation course, she developed a course in which students evaluate programs funded by the Maryland Community Health Care Commission.

She served as the Graduate Internship Coordinator in two departments and directs the Graduate Gerontology Certificate Program. She also developed and taught Oral and Written Communication. Working with two other faculty members, she recently developed a team-taught core course required for all new MPH students. During the “maiden voyage” for this course, she has been responsible for the health policy and program evaluation modules.  

Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Dr. Simon-Rusinowitz held positions at the George Washington University National Health Policy Forum and The Gerontological Society of America. She earned a Ph.D. in Health Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan, and an M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science at the Leadership Institute of Spokane.