Hari Sharma, a faculty member in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, has been selected to receive a Carver Trust Associate Professor Advancement Award. An associate professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy, Sharma will use the funding to advance his research on assisted living and community-based long-term services and supports (LTSS).

The award is intended to support the professional advancement of associate professors as they work toward promotion to full professor. Sharma plans to use the funding to strengthen a nationally visible and sustainable research agenda focused on assisted living and LTSS.

The award will also enable Sharma to expand national research collaborations by engaging with leading scholars at major conferences. Planned activities include organizing and chairing a multi-institutional panel at the Gerontological Society of America Annual Meeting.

In addition, the funding will support the development of a multi-state, facility-level assisted living database by harmonizing fragmented state data. This resource will provide critical research infrastructure and allow Sharma to examine cross-state variation in regulatory oversight and quality, with particular attention to rural areas and access to long-term care. This work is expected to position his research competitively for future external grant funding.

The College of Public Health Associate Professor Advancement Award is co-funded by the College of Public Health Research Office and the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust. The Carver Trust is one of Iowa’s largest private philanthropic foundations and supports biomedical and scientific research, scholarships, and programs that address the educational and recreational needs of youth.