Rebekah J. Walker, PhD
Assistant Professor
Locations
- General Internal Medicine
Contact Information
Research Interests
Dr. Walker's research focuses on racial and social determinants of health, in an effort to eliminate disparities in patients with chronic disease, with a special emphasis on diabetes. Her work concentrates on understanding the impact of social determinants of health in individuals with chronic diseases, and she is particularly interested in the psychosocial influences on health outcomes, the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic differences in health outcomes, and how to develop interventions that address the impact of social determinants in low-income populations. In addition, she is interested in global health efforts and developing programs that ameliorate the impact of social determinants of health on individuals from low- and middle-income countries. She has a particular interest in indigenous health and the use of both technology and community engagement to support empowerment and improved outcomes.
Dr. Walker has conducted quantitative analyses investigating the influence of factors such as depression, empowerment, coping, fatalism, self-efficacy, discrimination, and meaning of illness, leading to over 40 publications. She has devoted particular emphasis to understanding depression and diabetes distress, as these psychosocial factors consistently show significant impact on diabetes outcomes. She has expertise in analytical techniques focused on understanding mechanisms and pathways, including confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, and structured equation modeling. Her ongoing work is focused on using the understanding of mechanisms explaining these relationships to develop effective behavioral and community interventions to directly address the social determinants of health and improve health outcomes for low-income patients with Type 2 diabetes.
Publications
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Quality of Diabetes Care Among Recent Immigrants to the USA.
(Srivastava R, Bishu KG, Walker RJ, Williams JS, Egede LE.) J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018 Nov 14.
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(Dismuke-Greer CE, Gebregziabher M, Ritchwood T, Pugh MJ, Walker RJ, Uchendu US, Egede LE.) Health Equity. 2018;2(1):304-312.
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(Asan O, Cooper Ii F, Nagavally S, Walker RJ, Williams JS, Ozieh MN, Egede LE.) J Med Internet Res. 2018 Oct 18;20(10):e277.
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(Campbell JA, Mendez CE, Garacci E, Walker RJ, Wagner N, Egede LE.) J Diabetes Complications. 2018 Nov;32(11):1018-1024.
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(Walker RJ, Grusnick J, Garacci E, Mendez C, Egede LE.) J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Jan;34(1):33-35.
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(Egede LE, Dismuke CE, Walker RJ, Acierno R, Frueh BC.) J Clin Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 28;79(5).
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Racial and Ethnic Differences in Out-of-Pocket Expenses among Adults with Diabetes.
(Simmons M, Bishu KG, Williams JS, Walker RJ, Dawson AZ, Egede LE.) J Natl Med Assoc. 2019 Feb;111(1):28-36.
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(Restifo D, Williams JS, Garacci E, Walker RJ, Ozieh MN, Egede LE.) J Diabetes Complications. 2018 Sep;32(9):819-823.
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Pathways between food insecurity and glycaemic control in individuals with type 2 diabetes.
(Walker RJ, Williams JS, Egede LE.) Public Health Nutr. 2018 Dec;21(17):3237-3244.
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Ethnic and geographic variations in multimorbidty: Evidence from three large cohorts.
(Gebregziabher M, Ward RC, Taber DJ, Walker RJ, Ozieh M, Dismuke CE, Axon RN, Egede LE.) Soc Sci Med. 2018 08;211:198-206.
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Racial differences in spatial patterns for poor glycemic control in the Southeastern United States.
(Walker RJ, Neelon B, Davis M, Egede LE.) Ann Epidemiol. 2018 03;28(3):153-159.
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Preoperative Diabetes Optimization Program.
(Mendez CE, Wainaina N, Walker RJ, Montagne W, Livingston A, Slawski B, Egede LE.) Clin Diabetes. 2018 Jan;36(1):68-71.