Deborah Lefkowitz
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About Deborah
Lefkowitz’s interdisciplinary research focuses on downstream consequences of health policies and organizational practices for individuals navigating U.S. healthcare and safety net social services. Using a social ecological lens, she studies the challenges of accessing healthcare, supportive care, and legal services for women with breast cancer in a medically underserved region. Her research also explores workplace accommodations and disability benefits for people with long COVID; financial hardship among cancer survivors; and the lived experiences of illness and disability. She contributes to national legislative, regulatory, and policy initiatives that support oncology patient navigation.
Contributions
Making Medicaid Work Requirements Work in California
In the News
Publications
Argues that eligibility is not based on characteristics of particular applicants, but rather on the organizational processes that make these characteristics relevant for access to health services and financial assistance. Focusing on how different organizations “do” eligibility provides insights into the reproduction of disparities through seemingly innocuous practices such as the calculation of income thresholds.
The transition from government procurement and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to commercial market mechanisms raises three equity concerns: reliance on vaccine manufacturers’ voluntary cooperation, inadequate investment in community outreach and education, and decreased vaccine reporting. Advocates strengthening the nation’s public health infrastructure and epidemiologic data capacity to ensure equitable and reliable vaccine distribution.
Examines the meanings of staging numbers for women’s experiences of breast cancer, drawing on 92 in-depth interviews. Argues that staging numbers function as illness narratives, and that physicians can become better collaborators in constructing these number narratives to help women navigate the temporality of their illness and also envision future lives – not just the ending of their cancer story.
The growing population of breast cancer survivors encounters numerous post-treatment health and supportive care needs, but these needs often remain unmet. In-depth interviews with survivors and service providers illuminate how and when information pathways function smoothly to connect survivors with post-treatment services, and what happens when information breakdowns occur. Examining these breakdowns suggests how information pathways could work differently to improve survivorship care.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp relief the employment, wage, and health insurance inequities that affect women’s health. Recommends that lawmakers remedy women’s structural vulnerability by making changes to safety net programs, removing disincentives for immigrant access to health and social services, and enabling women across occupational strata to access paid leave, health insurance, and health-promoting programs.