Richard Schulz, PhD
Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, 
School of Medicine
Professor, Epidemiology, Sociology, Psychology, Community Health, Nursing & Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
Director, University Center for Social and Urban Research
Director, Geriatric Education Center of Pennsylvania
Associate Director, Aging Institute of UPMC Senior Services and the University of Pittsburgh

More than 17 million Americans provide ongoing support and care to older individuals with chronic illness and disability, saving the health care system more than $350 billion annually.  Without the care and support provided by family and friends, it would be difficult and often impossible for persons with disability to remain in the community. There is strong consensus that caring for an individual with disability is burdensome and stressful to many family members and contributes to psychiatric morbidity in the form of elevated rates of depression and anxiety and, in extreme cases, murder-suicide. This presentation will highlight three decades of research aimed at documenting the health effects of caregiving, psychological and behavioral mechanisms that account for these effects, and intervention strategies designed to mitigate the negative impact of caregiving. I show how this research has systematically progressed from populations-based descriptive studies to intervention studies and ultimately far-reaching state and national policy affecting work, health care, and long term care support services in the U.S.