CPHAR Fellows Biographical Information

Ishan Canty Williams

Ishan Canty Williams, Ph.D., is a native of Winston-Salem, NC. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received both her Masters degree and Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She was the first postdoctoral fellow in the CPHAR at the Institute on Aging.

Dr. Williams' interests in aging include: African American older adults and their caregivers; emotional and physical well-being of caregivers; health disparities; informal and formal care systems; and cultural sensitivity in research. Her dissertation research, "The Effects of Context on the Emotional and Physical Health Outcomes of Black and White Family Caregivers", was a comparison study between Black and White caregivers and their health outcomes. The primary objective of her study was to examine the predictors of emotional (depressive symptoms) and physical health (self-rated health) among family caregivers of demented older adults, by using a contextual approach, informed by the stress and coping theoretical framework.

Dr. Williams has received awards from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education and the AARP Andrus Doctoral Leadership Development Program, The Gerontological Society of America "Emerging Scholars Program", and the National Institute on Aging "Technical Assistance Workshop", and she was selected to participate in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, NACDA Summer Workshop titled "Research on Minority Aging and Health", at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Williams' faculty supervisor in the training program was Thomas Konrad, Ph. D. Giselle Corbie-Smith, M.D. was also part of Dr. Williams' advisory committee. Under the advisement of Dr. Konrad, her research projects encompassed projects that examined ethnic variations in health care decisions and the role of the informal care system and formal care system in effectively meeting the needs of older adults. She also worked with Dr. Corbie-Smith on developing and implementing strategies to recruit and retain African Americans into clinical trials. In doing so, strategies on how to make research more culturally sensitive to diverse groups was examined, as well as developing surveys and instruments that were culturally relevant.

Classes and workshops completed during her post doctoral fellowship include a short course on research ethics, seminar on obtaining grant funding, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) training workshop, AARP workshop on Social Services, and a 2-day symposium on Alzheimer’s Disease. Conferences attended included the Healthy Aging Symposium (Chapel Hill, NC), North Carolina Conference on Aging (Durham, NC), and the Gerontological Society of America (Washington, DC).

Ishan started her first faculty appointment at the University of Virginia (UVA), School of Nursing in the fall of 2005. She is an Assistant Professor currently conducting research exploring quality of life among family caregivers to persons who have dementia. With colleagues from UVA, Dr. Williams is also studying diabetes self-care management among rural African Americans. While on the faculty at the School of Nursing, Ishan also teaches three graduate courses (Health Policy, Health Promotion and Behavior Research, and Culture and Health: Implications for Health Systems and Research). She continues to be active in aging and diversity issues through numerous committees and national aging organizations.

View Dr. Williams' faculty profile and CV

Selected publications

Campbell, C., & Williams, I. (2010) In Cresia, J., & Friberg, E. (Eds.). Conceptual Foundations: The bridge to professional nursing practice.  Diversity in Health Care. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier. 

Stern, S., Hinton, I., Howelll, J., Merwin, E., Turner, S., Williams, I. & Wilson, M. (2010).The Educational Pipeline for Health Care Professionals:  Understanding the Source of Racial Differences.  Journal of Human Resources, 45(1).

Petterson, S., Williams, I. C., Hauenstein, E., Rovnyak, V., & Merwin, E. (2009). Race and ethnicity and rural mental health treatment. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 20, 678-694.

Utz, S.W., Williams, I.C., Jones, R., Hinton, I., Alexander, G., Yan, G., Moore, C., Blankenship, J., Steeves, R. & Oliver, N. (2008).  Culturally-tailored Intervention for Rural African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes.  The Diabetes Educator, 34(5), 854-865. 

Alexander G, Utz S, Hinton I, Williams I, and Jones R (2008). Cultural Brokerage Strategies in Diabetes Education. Public Health Nursing, 25(5): 461-470.