September 29, 2015

Judith Kasper, PhD

Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Judith Kasper is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a senior associate in the Center on Aging and Health. Kasper joined the department in 1987, having previously served as senior analyst in the Office of Research of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and as senior researcher at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Kasper is principal investigator of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). This national study of older people, supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health, is designed to study disability trends and dynamics in later life. NHATS is in its fifth year of annual data collection, and more than 8,000 people ages 65 and older are participating. She has been principal or co-principal investigator on additional studies of vulnerable older people funded by NIH, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Commonwealth Fund.

Kasper has extensive experience in the design, conduct, and analysis of national population-based studies that address significant health policy and public health concerns, particularly for older people. She is a member of AcademyHealth and the Gerontological Society of America. Kasper has served on numerous advisory panels and committees for government agencies, foundations, and research projects at other universities.

Kasper’s research and teaching interests include health policy in disability and long-term services and supports, assessment of needs for care and service provision to physically and mentally disabled people, caregiving for older adults, and the development and assessment of survey methods for application in population-based studies of public health significance.

Kasper holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago.