Alexandra Xan Nowakowski PhD, MPH

Alexandra Xan Nowakowski is an Assistant Professor in Geriatrics and Behavioral Sciences & Social Medicine at the Florida State University College of Medicine. They are a medical sociologist, public health program evaluator, and community advocate. Their research, teaching, and outreach focus on health equity in aging with chronic disease. They use mixed methods to explore and amplify the experiences of marginalized populations to inform the effective practice of chronic care for people aging with complex health challenges. They hold a Ph.D. and MS in Medical Sociology from Florida State University, an MPH in Health Systems and Policy from Rutgers University, and a BA in Political Science from Columbia University. To all their professional activities they bring lessons learned from their own lived experience with cystic fibrosis and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Building on this history, they edited Negotiating the Emotional Challenges of Conducting Deeply Personal Research in Health with their spouse and frequent collaborator Dr. J Sumerau. They also co-authored the social fiction novel Other People’s Oysters focused on intergenerational environmental health and aging on Florida’s Forgotten Coast, and monographs on Transformations in Queer, Trans, and Intersex Health and Aging and Sexual Deviance in Health and Aging. They co-founded the academic blog Write Where It Hurts focused on scholarship informed by the lived experience of trauma, and contribute to other blogs amplifying patient voices in science and medicine. Recently they also began editing a series with Rowman & Littlefield's Lexington Books imprint called Health and Aging in the Margins, which focused on intersectionally marginalized experiences of growing older.