Meki Singleton
Appointment Details
- Priority Area: Health Equity
- Disciplines: Gerontology, end-of-life, LGBTQ+ health, long-term care and support, health services
- Mentors: Dr. Mackey Friedman and Dr. Elissa Kozlov
- Mentors' Disciplines: Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Community Health Research (Dr. Friedman) | Clinical Psychology and Geriatrics (Dr. Kozlov)
- School: School of Public Health
- Department: Urban-Global Public Health
About Meki Singleton
Meki Singleton is a gerontologist whose research centers sexual and gender minority (SGM) or LGBTQIA+ older adults and their aging experiences, particularly for long-term care and end-of-life. This involves investigating how SGM aging communities’ access and utilize services, as well as identifying barriers and challenges they encounter in navigating the healthcare system during a serious illness. SGM individuals have historically encountered systemic discrimination and stigma, which attributes to a higher rate of health inequities and influences how they seek and access healthcare services. These health inequities contribute to a lower quality of healthcare received which can perpetuate through end of life. The goal of this work is to improve outcomes for SGM older adults as they plan for and/or access services and support relevant to serious illness and end-of-life.
Dr. Singleton received her Ph.D. in Gerontology from the University of Southern California. Her work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals, media, and news outlets. Much of her work has also been presented at national conferences, such as the Gerontological Society of America, Society for Social Work and Research, and the LGBTQ+ Research Symposium. During her predoctoral studies, she served as a research and teaching assistant which led to her being a Mentored Teaching Fellow through the USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching. Additionally, she has done numerous guest lectures/invited talks on SGM aging and past/current social issues that affect the SGM population. She received a National Institute of Aging (NIA) R36 Aging Research Dissertation Award to Promote Diversity. This award provided two years of funding to support Dr. Singleton’s dissertation titled “Exploring the Interaction Between Race and Sexual Orientation in Advance Care Planning”.
As a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Singleton aims to publish the outcomes from her dissertation work and expand upon that work to identify barriers to end-of-life care planning and develop intervention strategies to facilitate end-of-life planning among sexual minority older adults. She also will engage in providing guest lectures to courses in the Population Aging and LGBTQ Health MPH concentrations within the School of Public Health. The scope of Dr. Singleton’s work addresses issues that affect the SGM population at large, which is why she is excited to bring her work to the discipline of public health.