PhD

Professor

Core Faculty, Women's and Gender Studies

Current position

• Professor, Department of Public Health
• Core Faculty, Department of Women’s & Gender Studies
• Faculty Affiliate, Department of Sociology, University of Missouri
• Honorary Senior Researcher, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand
• Research Associate, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Coach/Master Coach, National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Educational background

• Wits Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow – University of the Witwatersrand, 2003-04
• Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow – University of Colorado, Boulder (resident at Wits), 2002-04
• Ph.D. – University of Pennsylvania, Demography/Sociology, 2002
• M.A. – University of Pennsylvania, Demography, 1999
• B.A. – Tufts University, Judaic Studies/Women’s Studies, 1995

Classes taught

• Gender & Public Health
• Global Public Health (online)
• Graduate Feminist Methods & Methodologies
• Public Health: Principles & Practice
• Public Health: Principles & Practice (Honors)
• Sixteen & Pregnant: Teen Pregnancy & Parenting
• Women’s Empowerment
• Women’s & Gender Studies Senior Capstone Seminar

Research Interests

• Gender
• Aging & Health
• HIV/AIDS
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods

Research statement

My research brings a gendered lens to examining the social and structural impacts of HIV on older persons’ physical health and social well-being in South Africa and Uganda. South Africa has high HIV prevalence (about 30%), but also a strong set of social welfare programs, which older persons can access. Uganda has a lower overall HIV prevalence rate (about 7%), but also fewer social welfare programs. Thus, it is important to understand the ways that carework for others, the loss of carers, and household dynamics in the context of poverty, migration, and the HIV epidemic affect older persons health and well-being. Much of my work has focused on the impact of HIV on older persons, their roles and responsibilities in households affected by HIV, and the ways that social welfare mediated their health and other needs. More recently, my work has begun to focus on the fact that the aging of African populations and roll out of antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV has meant an increasing number of people aging with HIV, as well as larger numbers of those at risk and being infected at older ages. The health needs of these populations are significant; the UNAIDS 2014 Gap Report singled out older adults as a population that has been “left behind”, and who will require more attention if HIV response goals are to be met. My projects in Uganda and South Africa are among the first to focus explicitly on the barriers for older persons to HIV care, including HIV testing, and ART access and adherence. My colleagues and I are developing innovative tools to collect higher quality information on risk, health profiles and HIV testing, as well as interventions to increase older persons’ ART access and adherence, with an aim of improving older Africans’ overall health and well-being.

Active grants

• HIV after 40 in Rural South Africa: Aging in the Context of an HIV/AIDS Epidemic [01 AG049634]. National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Aging PI: Mojola (Princeton University) Role: Consultant. Award Amount: $1,301,144. Grant Period: 09/30/2016-03/31/2021.

Recently completed grants

• Piloting & refining the testing & risk history calendar to understand the experiences of HIV risk and testing among older South Africans. University of Missouri, Research Council. PI: Schatz. amount: $10,000. / SHP Catalyst Grant. PI: Schatz. Award Amount: $3570. Grant period: 04/15/2018–12/31/2018.
• Fulbright Scholar, South Africa. Selected by Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy, to the U.S. Department of State and to the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Grant period: 06/01/2017-12/31/2017.
• Leaving no one behind: Identifying approaches to improving HIV treatment outcomes among older Ugandans. UK Medical Research Council, PHNID. PI: Seeley (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine); co-I: Schatz (12% effort). Award period: 08/1/2016–12/31/2017. Grant amount: GBP149,550 (~$215,000).
• Food insecurity, ART adherence among older people living with HIV in the Western Cape, South Africa. DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security Small Grants Program, University of Western Cape. PI: Schatz; co-PI: Knight (University of Western Cape). Grant period: 12/01/2016–11/30/2107. Award amount: ZAR 90,000 (~$6,600).
• Addressing the social and health needs of older South Africans living with HIV. University of Missouri-South Africa Linkages Program. PI: Lucia Knight, co-PI: Schatz. Grant period: 10/01/2016-09/30/2017. Award Amount: $3,000. [extension for original $10,000 grant]

Selected publications

• Gómez-Olivé FX, Houle B, Rosenberg M, Kabudula C, Mojola S, Rohr J, Clark S, Angotti N, Schatz E, Kahn K, Bärnighausen T & Menken J. 2020. HIV incidence among older adults in a rural South African setting: 2010-2015. JAIDS. https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000002404 [Epub ahead of print]
• Houle B, Shao-Tzu Y, Angotti N, Schatz E, Kabadula C, Gómez-Olivé FX, Menken J & Mojola S. 2020. Patterns of HIV risk and protective sexual behaviours in Agincourt, rural South Africa: Findings from the Ha Nakekela population-based study of ages 15 and older. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01663-5 [Epub ahead of print]
• Schatz E, Knight L, Belli R & Mojola S. 2020. Assessing the feasibility of a life history calendar to measure HIV risk and health in older South Africans. PLoS One. 15(1): e0226024. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226024
• Knight L, Schatz E, Lewis K & Mukumbang F. 2020. “When you take pills you must eat”: Food (in)security and ART adherence among older people living with HIV. Global Public Health 15(1): 97-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2019.1644361
• Teti M, Koegler E, Schatz E & Enriquez M. 2019. HIV medication adherence amid multiple inequities: Detailing the lived challenges of the most at-risk people with HIV. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services. https://doi.org/10.1080/15381501.2019.1689215 [Epub ahead of print]

View a complete list of publications

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