Director

Lynne Cossman

Jeralynn (Lynne) Sittig Cossman is a medical sociologist and demographer who chairs the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at West Virginia University. She has been funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. She has published in several sociology and interdisciplinary journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Social Problems, Health and Place, Population Research and Policy Review, Sociological Inquiry, and The Journal of Rural Health. Her current research focuses on spatial concentrations of mortality and morbidity, the physician workforce, and fear of crime for vulnerable (e.g., sick, elderly) populations. As chair at WVU, she has led the faculty in many curricular and policy change, including the development of a doctoral program. She is a food and wine enthusiast and when not engaged in academic life, she enjoys exploring wild and wonderful West Virginia.