Willi Horner-Johnson, PhD, (Oregon Institute on Disability & Development: OR UCEDD/LEND) Received two 2009 New Investigator Awards: American Public Health Association and the International Society for Quality of Life Research
December 14, 2009
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On November 9th, 2009, Dr Willi Horner-Johnson, Research Assistant Professor for the Center on Community Accessibility at the Child Development and Rehabilitation Center (CDRC) at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), received the 2009 New Investigator Award from the Disability Section of the American Public Health Association. This award recognizes a newer investigator who demonstrates evidence of a promising career in public health research in the area of health and wellness for people with disabilities.
On October 31, 2009, Dr Horner-Johnson received the New Investigator award at the annual meeting of the International Society for Quality of Life Research. The ISQOL New Investigator Award recognizes the best overall oral presentation made by an investigator in the early stages of their career in Health-Related Quality of Life Research.
Willi Horner-Johnson, PhD, is Research Assistant Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2002. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in disabilities and health at OHSU. Dr. Horner-Johnson is also a Research Scientist for OHSU's Center on Community Accessibility (CCA), a program of the Oregon Institute on Disability and Development.
Dr. Horner-Johnson's research interests include attitudes toward people with disabilities, prevention of maltreatment of people with disabilities, surveillance of disability and health issues, measuring health status and modeling determinants of health, evaluating health promotion programs for people with disabilities including theraputic horseback riding and other alternative forms of health promotion, and research on community engagement to promote accessible and welcoming environments. She is the Principal Investigator of a study for the RRTC on Health and Wellness that involves detailed analysis of the performance of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) health-related quality of life items among respondents with disabilities. She is also coordinating a population-based survey of access barriers faced by individuals with disabilities in Oregon communities, and oversees collection and analysis of data for the Healthy Lifestyles Evaluation Project.
Dr Horner-Johnson's other activities with CCA include community-based training around abuse prevention, provision of technical assistance to community members regarding disability data, and mentoring of MPH students and post-Masters fellows. Dr. Horner-Johnson has also worked with LEND students on various research projects. She is an active member of the DisAbility Forum of the American Public Health Association and a co-founder of the Oregon Public Health Association's new Disability Section.
