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Dr.
Barry is an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Epidemiology and
Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine. She received her B.A. in
Psychology and a Certification in Gerontological Studies from the College of the
Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and subsequently received a Master’s in Public
Health and a Doctoral degree in Epidemiology and Public Health from Yale. Prior
to her current appointment, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical
Epidemiology and Aging-Related Research at Yale. Dr. Barry is the Past-Chair of
the Emerging Scholars and Professionals Organization (ESPO) of the
Gerontological Society of America. Her earlier research focused on the
influence of psychosocial factors on the quality of life of persons following
heart surgery and myocardial infarction. More recently, her interest in
psychosocial epidemiology has led her to evaluate the course of depression in
community-living older persons, with a particular focus on gender differences in
the onset and persistence of depression, as well as mortality. As a Brookdale
Leadership in Aging Fellow, Dr. Barry will evaluate the relationship between
depression and disability over time in light of emerging knowledge regarding the
highly dynamic nature of disability in older persons. Specifically, she will
determine if depression is associated with 1) the subsequent burden of
disability, defined on the basis of quantity, duration, and severity; and 2)
discrete subtypes of disability (i.e., transient, short-term, long-term,
recurrent, unstable). As a secondary aim, she will determine whether the
association between depression and disability (burden and subtypes) differs in
older women versus men. It is hoped that the information gained from this
research will be used to inform intervention efforts directed towards preventing
the onset and progression of disability, with the ultimate goal of maintaining
independent function in this rapidly growing segment of the population.