Karen Lutfey Spencer

Headshot of Karen Spencer
Professor
Health and Behavioral Sciences
KAREN.SPENCER@UCDENVER.EDU

Office location:
North Classroom 3025B

Office hours:
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday By Appt via Calendly 

My research is on medical decision making, health disparities, patient-provider relationships, and patient adherence, studied from largely qualitative perspectives. I have examined these issues across various medical and psychiatric conditions such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, schizophrenia, and depression. My current work is focused on the social context of end-of-life decision making in the US, including the ways in which healthcare systems, payers, providers, and social networks influence individuals’ engagement with healthcare systems, including hospice.

Featured in Cosmopolitan’s “Everything you need to know about medical gaslighting, including preventing it” by Kara Cuzzone, May 8, 2025. https://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/a64688137/what-is-medical-gaslighting/   

“Most People Don’t Get the End-of-Life Care They Really Want. Here’s What You Can Do to Change That.” By Karen Lutfey Spencer in Maria Shriver’s The Sunday Paper, June 2, 2024. https://www.mariashriversundaypaper.com/karen-spencer-end-of-life-care/

Guest Expert on medical gaslighting on “AirTalk with Larry Mantle,” on KPCC, a NPR affiliate in Pasadena, CA. August 8, 2022.

Guest Expert on medical gaslighting on “Colorado Matters,” Colorado Public Radio  News’ daily interview show focused on the state’s people, issues and ideas, and hosted by Ryan Warner. April 13, 2022.

Guest Expert on medical gaslighting on “The Takeaway,” a national radio show and podcast produced in association with PRX and WNYC and hosted by Melissa Harris-Perry. April 12, 2022.

Featured in “Women are Calling Out ‘Medical Gaslighting,’” by Melinda Wenner Moyer in The New York Times, March 28, 2022.

Postdoctoral, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Scholars in Health Policy Research, University of California Berkeley & San Francisco, 2002-2004
Ph.D., Sociology, Indiana University, 2000
M.A., Sociology, Indiana University, 1995
B.A., Sociology/Anthropology, Gustavus Adolphus College, 1993

Spencer, Karen Lutfey and Hyeyoung Oh Nelson. 2024. “The Importance of Qualitative Methods for Understanding Racialized Injustice and Health.” Sociology Compass 18(8): e13261.  https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/soc4.13261

Mrig, Emily Hammad and Karen Lutfey Spencer. 2024. “Extending the Case for a ‘Health Disparities Research Industrial Complex’: A Response to Ezell.” Social Science and Medicine 351: 116622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.11662

Tate, Alexandra and Karen Lutfey Spencer. 2024. “High Stakes Treatment Negotiations Gone Awry: The importance of interactions for understanding treatment advocacy and patient resistance.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 65(2): 237-255. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022146523120435

Spencer, Karen Lutfey, Emily Hammad Mrig, and Elizabeth Gage Bouchard. 2023. “Unpacking Gatekeeping in Medical Institutions: A Case Study of Access to End-of-Life Patients.” Qualitative Research 23(2):486-500.

Spencer, Karen Lutfey, Emily Hammad Mrig, and Ariana Kobra Talaie. 2022. “The Many Faces of Medical Treatment Imperatives: Biopower and the Cultural Authority of Medicine in Late-Life Treatment Decisions in the U.S.” Sociology of Health and Illness 44: 781-797.

Nelson, Hyeyoung Oh and Karen Lutfey Spencer. 2021. “Sociological Contributions to Race and Health: Diversifying the Ontological and Methodological Agenda” Sociology of Health and Illness, epub online 8/26/2021  

Spencer, Karen Lutfey, Emily Hammad Mrig, and Ariana Kobra Talaie. 2020. “Does Palliative Care Utilization Facilitate Conversion to Hospice Care?  A Qualitative Study of the ‘Soft No.’” American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.1-6.

HBSC 7011: Theoretical Perspectives in Health and Behavioral Sciences I
HBSC 7111: Applications of the Health and Behavioral Sciences
PBHL 3051: Mental Illness & Society
PBHL 4040: Social Determinants of Health PBHL
PBHl 4099: Capstone Experience in Public Health​