Courtney A Polenick

Courtney A. Polenick, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. She is a member of the Eisenberg Family Depression Center, the Center for Global Health Equity, and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), where she co-leads the IHPI Aging Research Network. She is an affiliate of the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging (MiCDA). Additionally, she is a Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation Health and Aging Policy Fellow. Dr. Polenick’s research focuses on family relationships and caregiving in the context of complex care needs including dementia and multimorbidity. She is particularly interested in understanding family and social influences in everyday life that shape the health and well-being of older adults and their caregivers or care partners. Her long-term goal is to inform interventions and policies that mitigate stress and promote resilience among older adults living with complex care needs and their families.

· Family and social relationships in the context of chronic illness
· Complex care needs (e.g., dementia, multimorbidity) and family caregiving across the lifespan
· Mutual influences on mental and physical health within care dyads (caregiver-care recipient pairs)