Faculty Profile

HwaJung Choi

HwaJung Choi, PhD

  • Associate Professor, Internal Medicine
  • Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy
  • Faculty Associate, Institute for Social Research - Survey Research Center
Dr. Choi is an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, and of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan. She is also a Faculty Associate at the Institute for Social Research (ISR), University of Michigan. She was a Fulbright scholar and received her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Michigan. 

Dr. Choi is an economist and family demographer whose research focuses on family and community contextual factors and their implications for health and care use among older adults with physical and cognitive limitations. Dr. Choi also examines cross-national differences in health and disability outcomes. She currently focuses on projects supported by the National Institute on Aging: to assess the impacts of the pandemic on care use among adults with dementia (R01AG075002); to examine the implications of residential location for disability and cognitive function outcomes (R01AG080491); to develop and evaluate new measures of family care availability (RF1AG083037). She also serves as a co-lead of the Research and Education Core at the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease (MCCFAD) and as a co-lead of the Community Services Domain at the Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center.

  • PhD, Economics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 2008
  • MA. Economics, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1999
  • BA. Economics, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 1997

Research Interests:

Implications of residential location in health and disability at middle and older ages; Family availability and community resources for older adults with physical and cognitive limitations; Disparities in care resources, care utilization, and care costs among older adults with dementia

Projects as PI:
  • Developing and evaluating new measures of family availability to provide care to people with dementia (NIH/NIA RF1AG083037)

  • Implications of residential location in midlife disability and cognitive functioning among the poor vs. rich: within the US and cross-country comparisons (NIH/NIA R01AG080491)

  • The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on formal and informal care among adults with dementia (NIH/NIA R01AG075002)
Projects as Co-I:
  • Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer's Disease (MCCFAD) NIH/NIA (5 P30AG059300; PI-Kristine Ajrouch)

  • Gateway Exposome Coordinating Center (GECC) For AD/ADRD Research: (U24AG088894; MPI and Site PI - Sara Adar) 

Scambray KA, Walters ME, Tsotsoros C, Gutiérrez A, Sol K, Choi H. Relationship quality moderates the association between neighborhood disadvantage and cognition among Mexican American older adults, The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, v 81, Iss. 2, Feb 2026, gbaf266, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaf266

Patterson SE, Tate AM, Hu Y-L, Wang J (Jessie), Schoeni RF, Choi H. The Social Cost of Providing Care to Older Adults With and Without Dementia. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2023; 78: S71–80.

Choi H, Langa KM, Norton EC, Cho T, Connell CM: Changes in care use and financial status associated with dementia in older adults. JAMA Internal Medicine, 2023, doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.5482

Cho T, Park B, Choi H: Measuring spatial availability of children for older adults with disability. Social Science and Medicine, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116201

Stokes J, Kindratt T, Antonucci T, Cox C, Choi H: Employment dynamics among adult children at the onset of parental dementia: Variation by socioeconomic characteristics, Journal of Aging and Health, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/08982643231201547

Choi H, Langa KM, Norton EC, Cho T, Connell CM: Changes in care use and financial status associated with dementia in older adults.  JAMA Internal Medicine, 2023, doi:10. 1001/jamainternmed.2023.5482

Choi H, Schoeni RF, Steptoe A, Cho TC, Langa KM: Differential trends in disability among rich and poor adults in the US and England from 2002 to 2016. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 77 (2): S189-S198: 2022. PM35191479

Choi H, Heisler M, Norton EC, Langa KM, Cho TC, Connell CM: Family care availability and its implications for informal and formal care used by adults with dementia in the US. Health Affairs 40 (9): 1359-1367, 2021. PM34495713/PMC8647567

Choi H, Schoeni RF, Xu H, Reyes A, Thomas D: Proximity to mother over the life course in the United States: Overall patterns and racial differences. Demographic Research 45(23): 769-806, 2021.

Choi H, Steptoe A, Heisler M, Clarke P, Schoeni RF, Jivraj S, Cho TC, Langa KM: Comparison of health outcomes among high- and low-income adults aged 55 to 64 years in the US vs England. JAMA Intern Med 180(9): 1185-1193, 2020. PM32658276/PMC7358980.

Choi H, Schoeni RF, Wiemers EE, Hotz VJ, Seltzer JA: Spatial distance between parents and adult children in the United States. JOMF. doi:10.1111/jomf.12606 82(2): 822-840, 2020.

Choi H, Schoeni RF, Martin LG, Langa KM: Trends in the prevalence and disparity in cognitive limitations of Americans 55-69 Years Old. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 73(suppl_1): S29-S37, 2018. PM29669102/PMC6019031

Email: hwajungc@umich.edu
Office: 734-936-4787
Fax: 734-936-8944

Address:
NCRC Building 14 - GR109
2800 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Areas of Expertise: Aging,  Brain Disorders,  COVID-19,  Global Public Health,  Health Care,  Health Policy