Kate Lorig, RN, PhD

Dr. Kate Lorig received her BS in Nursing from Boston University in 1964 and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chile. She received her MS from the University of California San Francisco and her Doctorate in Public Health in 1980 from the University of California Berkeley. She began working for the Stanford Arthritis Center in 1978 and became a faculty member at Stanford University School of Medicine in 1995 The focus of Dr. Lorig’s research has been the development, evaluation of self-management programs in English and Spanish for people with chronic diseases. Programs are delivered in small groups, via mail, and via the Internet. These studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of low cost self-management interventions in reducing symptoms and improving the quality of life. They have also explored the role of self-efficacy as a predictor and moderator of outcomes. Dr. Lorig’s work is used in more than 20 countries. The Administration on Aging and Centers for Disease Control have been instrumental in the wide-spread use of the Stanford Self-Management Program in the United States. Dr. Lorig has served on numerous committees of the American College of Rheumatology. She has received the National Arthritis Foundation Engalitcheff Award for Impact on Quality of Life and The Fries Foundation Prize for Health Education, the Arthritis Health Professionals award for Scholarly Contributions. She is a fellow in the Society for Behavioral Medicine and a distinguished fellow in the Society of Public Health Education.