Future of long-term health care topic of public lecture

KALAMAZOO--What lies ahead for long-term health care will be the topic of conversation for the next visiting economist in Western Michigan University's Sichel Lecture Series.

Dr. Edward Norton, professor of economics and health management and policy at the University of Michigan, will address "The Future of Long-Term Care in America" at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1, in Room 2028 of Brown Hall. His presentation is free and open to the public.

Norton's research interests span a wide range of topics in health economics and applied econometrics. He is known for his work on nursing home quality of care, long-term care insurance, and how informal care affects formal care and transfers of money between generations. Recently, his research has covered such diverse subjects as the economic consequences of obesity, prescription drug insurance, health care report cards and the use of biomarkers in social science research.

Norton earned his doctoral degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and joined the faculty at U-M in 2008. He is director of U of M's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research program.

Nortan has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard Medical School. In 2003, UNC awarded him the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement by Young Faculty.

The Sichel Series is organized by the WMU Department of Economics and named in honor of longtime WMU economics professor Dr. Werner Sichel, who retired in 2004. The series is annually cosponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and the Medical Humanities Workgroup of WMU.