Lab
The Swenor Research Group aims to improve the health of people with visual impairments and is fueled by Dr. Swenor's personal experience living with a visual disability. To achieve this, Dr. Swenor and her team have concentrated on three interrelated areas:
Vision and Aging: examining the impact of visual impairments on health and well-being across the lifespan, with a focus on older adults
Access to Care: documenting health care disparities and improving healthcare utilization, quality, and access in patients with vision loss
Disability Inclusion: enhancing the inclusion of persons with visual impairments and other disabilities in the biomedical workforce.
Dr. Swenor is now expanding on this research framework to more broadly examine disability health. This area of research examines disability – including visual impairment - as a health disparity population, and uses an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to establish the evidence needed to design effective policies and programs that will reduce disability health disparities. The overarching goals of this research are to maximize health, equity, and participation for persons with all types of disabilities.
Lab Website: Swenor Research Group
Selected Publications
View all on PubMed
Epstein S, Ayers K, Swenor BK. COVID-19 vaccine prioritisation for people with disabilities. Lancet Public Health. 2021 Apr 21:S2468-2667(21)00093-1.
Swenor BK, Ehrlich JR. Ageing and vision loss: looking to the future. Lancet Glob Health. 2021 Apr;9(4):e385-e386.
Assi L, Varadaraj V, Shakarchi AF, Sheehan OC, Reed NS, Ehrlich JR, Swenor BK. Association of Vision Impairment With Preventive Care Use Among Older Adults in the United States. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2020 Dec 1;138(12):1298-1306.
Swenor BK, Wang J, Varadaraj V, Rosano C, Yaffe K, Albert M, Simonsick EM. Vision Impairment and Cognitive Outcomes in Older Adults: The Health ABC Study. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2019 Aug 16;74(9):1454-1460
Swenor BK, Lee MJ, Varadaraj V, Whitson HE, Ramulu PY. Aging With Vision Loss: A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Visual Impairment on Older Adults. Gerontologist. 2019 Aug 24. pii: gnz117
Varadaraj V, Frick KD, Saaddine JB, Friedman DS, Swenor BK. Trends in Eye Care Use and Eyeglasses Affordability: The US National Health Interview Survey, 2008-2016. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2019 Apr 1;137(4):391-398
Swenor B, Meeks LM. Disability Inclusion - Moving Beyond Mission Statements. N Engl J Med. 2019 May 30;380(22):2089-2091.
Patient Ratings & Comments
The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to physician related questions on the national CG-CAHPS Medical Practice patient experience survey through Press Ganey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Comments are also gathered from our CG-CAHPS Medical Practice Survey through Press Ganey and displayed in their entirety. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.