Skip to main content
Robyn Lewis Brown
Professor of Sociology
Director of the Health, Society and Populations Program

I am a feminist scholar specializing in the study of gendered responses to stigma, social devaluation, and social stress more generally, with a particular focus on the health and healthcare experiences of people with disabilities. I am a versatile methodologist with specific training and expertise in survey research and advanced health data analysis, as well as qualitative research methods. 

I regularly teach courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels on statistics; programming and data analytics; the sociology of health, illness and disability; gender and mental health; social psychology; and research methods, including the capstone course for the Health, Society and Populations major. 

I am co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on the Sociology of Disability (publication date: July 2023), which is the first handbook of its kind in this discipline. I am the deputy editor for two journals - Society and Mental Health and Sociological Perspectives - and serve on the editorial boards of several academic journals including the Journal of Aging and Health, Stigma and Health, and Health Sociology Review

I am also highly involved in professional advocacy. I am co-chair of the newly-formed Employee Affinity Group on Disability at UK and have chaired the Faculty Senate Disability Accommodations and Compliance Committee, as well as the Committee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities for the American Sociological Association. I have served as a faculty advisor for several student advocacy groups, including the Invisible Disabilities Alliance and Active Minds.

Contact Information
Robyn.Brown@uky.edu
1529 Patterson Office Tower
859-257-6421
Education
Ph.D., Florida State University, 2010
Research Interests
  • Stigma and discrimination; gender; mental health; disability; health data sciences
Affiliations
  • Health, Society and Populations
  • Sociology
  • Gender and Women's Studies
  • Center for Equality and Social Justice
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Human Development Institute
  • Center for Health Equity Transformation