Sept. 23, 2013 – Marilyn Luptak has been selected to moderate a panel on The New Expectations for Health Care during a White House Briefing next Wednesday.  Hosted by the Council on Social Work Education, the White House Briefing will concentrate on “Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in a New Era: The Role of Social Work Education.”

The New Expectations for Health Care panelists are anticipated to include Anand Parekh, deputy assistant secretary for health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Stephane Philogene, associate director, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The White House Briefing will focus on preparing the next generation of social work practitioners for a new paradigm in health professional education and collaborative practice.  The goal of this White House Briefing is to foster a shared understanding of the future of health care in the United States, broadly defined, and to identify a path forward for social work education in this new era.

Luptak is an associate professor, chair of the MSW Aging in Social Work concentration, John A. Hartford Faculty Scholar in Geriatric Social Work (2008-2010), and Belle S. Spafford Endowed Chair (2011-2012) in the College of Social Work at the University of Utah.  A native of western North Dakota and graduate of the University of Minnesota, Luptak brings more than 25 years of experience to her work to improve the health and well-being of vulnerable older adults and their families.  Her scholarly activities address health and mental health care for older adults and their family caregivers in rural and urban settings, interprofessional education and collaborative practice, and end-of-life care.

Luptak serves on the University of Utah’s Center on Aging Steering Committee, the University’s Neuropsychiatric Institute Ethics Committee, and on editorial boards for the Journal of Social Work in End of Life and Palliative Care and the Journal of Gerontological Social Work.  She was recently appointed as the Social Work and Geriatrics Integration Consultant at the HRSA-funded National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPE).