Karen Lutfey Spencer

Session Postponed! New date will be posted soon 📢

January’s Mentor of the Month session on the current climate for federal funding of medical sociological research has been postponed. It was orginally scheduled on January 30, 2026: 3 pm (EST)/12 pm PST

#ASA #ASAMedicalSociology #ASAMentalHealth

What happened when this professor tried to write a trade book I think I liked it?

I wrote my first book manuscript this year. Here’s why I wrote it and what the experience was like compared to all these years of churning out academic articles and grants. And that’s me & my mom in the picture! It ties in. Read it here:

open.substack.com/pub/spencerk...

📢 Join us:

January’s Mentor of the Month sessio on:

The current climate for federal funding of medical sociological research 📢

Co-hosted by ASA Medical Sociology section & Mental Health section!
When: Friday January 30, 2026: 3 pm (EST)/12 pm PST

#ASA #MedicalSociology #Funding #Academia

Join a session on Time Management and Semester Planning 📢

Co-hosted by ASA Medical Sociology section & Mental Health section!
When: Friday, December 5, 2-3pm EST / 11am-12pm PST

#ASA #MedicalSociology #Timemangement #Acedemia

Associate Professor of Social Work, Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Program Director - Denver, Colorado job with University of Colorado Denver | 1311237 The Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado Denver invites applications...

📢 Job Opportunity:
Associate Professor & BSW Program Director - University of Colorado Denver
Specialization: Social work.
Deadline Jan 1, 2026.
#ASA #MedicalSociology

Assistant Professor - Bloomington, Indiana job with Indiana University | 1311234 Tenure-track position at the level of Assistant Professor in the general area of sociology of medicine, health, and/or well-being broadly defined.

📢 Job Opportunity:
Assistant Professor – Indiana University
Specialization: Sociology of medicine, health, and well-being.
Due Nov 16, 2025.
#MedicalSociology #HealthInequality #ASA #MedicalSociology

Are you a sociologist exploring non-academic careers? Join our session via Zoom on Nov 7 (2-3pm EST⏰) to hear from Skye Miner (RAND), Sarah Diefendorf (Intermountain Healthcare), & Dan Simon (Colorado DPH)
📍Open to members of the ASA(@asanews.bsky.social) Sections: Medical Sociology & Mental Health.

Come at 2pm to hear from editors of JHSB, SHI, and SSM talk about how to get published in medical sociology journals. Bring your questions! @jofhsb.bsky.social

🎉Congratulations to the 2025 ASA Section on Medical Sociology Award Winners!🎉

We are proud to honor this year's outstanding scholars for their impactful research, service, and dedication to advancing the discipline! 🥳

#ASA2025 #MedSoc #ReimaginingHealth

Happy Sunday 🎉 Here is our session schedule for the day. Use #MedSoc #ASAChicago or #ReimaginingHealth to show us your conference highlights!

Hey, #medsoc "Mentor of the Month" friends, don't miss this exciting presentation from one of our lovely mentors, Dr. Courtney Boen (@courtneyboen.bsky.social)! If you ask me, catching this talk is a great way to start your Monday! 😄

#ASA2025 #ReimaginingHealth

On Sunday, I have the pleasure of presiding over the session on Racialized Health Injustice (also at 8am 😅). Really looking forward to this one. Truly an amazing set of papers!

Hope to see you (w all the caffeine ☕️) there! #ASA2025

I love that we’re doing this topic! Thank you for presiding!

Come by my session tomorrow morning at #ASA2025 in @asamedsoc.bsky.social on what I call 'clinical outcomes governance' with some very cool looking papers!

You won't want to miss our reception tonight sponsored by the Sociology of Health and Illness Foundation ✨ This location is .8 miles from the Hyatt Regency. Anyone who would like to arrange to share a ride or walk over together should meet up in the Hyatt lobby at 6pm, departing 6:15 at the latest.

Good morning, ASA Medical Sociology Section! Here is the daily schedule of sessions, including the section awards ceremony and a reception you don't want to miss! Don't forget to use #MedSoc #ASAChicago or #ReimaginingHealth to show us your conference highlights!

Afternoon Schedule:
2-3:30 Roundtables
East Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Floor: Ballroom Level/Gold, Grand Ballroom A

4:30-5:30
Awards Ceremony and Reeder Address
West Tower, Hyatt Regency Chicago, Floor: Ballroom Level/Gold, Regency D

6:30PM-8:30
Reception: Hawksmoor, 500 North LaSalle Drive

This social media committee LOVES celebrating the section members who make Medical Sociology the wonderful section it is! This #ASA2025, we will be sharing highlights, updates, and photos from the Annual Meeting 🥰 Keep an eye out for our account on upcoming sessions, reminders, and good news!

👋🏽 Gentle reminder: Join us tomorrow for the Welcome Reception hosted by the ASA sections on Medical Sociology and Mental Health, along with our wonderful sponsor, the Sociology of Health & Illness!

📆 Saturday, August 9
🕡 6:30 - 8:30 PM
📍 #ASA2025 in Chicago (Check the agenda for location details!)

Have something you'd like featured on our Bluesky profile? Fill out our Google Form to share your session highlights, photos, or announcements with us, and we'll post them on our account!

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#MedSoc #ASAChicago #ReimaginingHealth

📢 New platform, same great section: ASA Medical Sociology is officially on Bluesky! Follow along for section activities, publications, and member highlights: @asamedsoc. We’re excited to build community in new spaces! #MedSoc #ASA2025

The Medical Sociology section of ASA has a new account up & running so we can bring you live coverage of #ASA2025! Please follow and share! @asamedsoc.bsky.social

The Medical Sociology section of ASA has a new account up & running so we can bring you live coverage of #ASA2025! Please follow and share! @asamedsoc.bsky.social

As the Chair of the Medical Sociology section of ASA, I’m excited for next week’s meeting in Chicago —follow our new account for live coverage! @asamedsoc.bsky.social

Social Security stops reporting call wait times and other metrics The changes are the latest sign of the agency’s struggle with website crashes, overloaded servers and long lines at field offices amid Trump cutbacks.

After sending a misleading & partisan press release to millions, Social Security issued a new release on service "improvements" under the new Commissioner, whom it lavishes w/praise.

But SSA deleted most metrics last month, allowing them to cherry pick data.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

With financial support in limbo, this UA cancer lab started crowdfunding As federal funding changes hit universities, key research initiatives are scrambling to find cash. The Schroeder Lab at UA is one of them.

This is where we are, America. One of my old colleagues at the University of Arizona Cancer Center has set up a GoFundMe to help fund breast cancer research in the wake of massive cuts to NIH grants.

Congratulations!!

Thanks, Matt!

I’m happy to share my new (100% free) Substack newsletter, “I’m Not Gaslighting You!”

open.substack.com/pub/spencerk

I’ll be writing about health, illness, healthcare, why our systems gaslight us, and how you can resist.

New meaning to the word unqualified and incompetent.