Catherine Hawes

Catherine Hawes, Ph.D., is a professor of health policy and management and directs the Program on Aging and Long-Term Care Policy in the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M University System Health Science Center. She has been active in research, teaching, and policymaking in long-term care for more than 30 years, with an emphasis on defining, measuring and assuring quality in long-term care. She has led several projects on assisted living and residential care, including quality measurement and improvement in residential care and assisted living for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; a national study of assisted living facilities for the frail elderly and a study of the effect of regulation on the quality of care in board and care homes for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services; and a study of how family members of residents with dementia define quality in assisted living. She has also been active in research on nursing home quality and regulation. Dr. Hawes has served on a number of national advisory committees, including the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Nursing Home Regulation. She has also provided papers and testimony to other IOM Committees on quality assurance in Medicare, improving quality in long-term care, and preventing elder abuse in residential long-term care settings. She is a member of the editorial board of The Gerontologist. In 2005, she and her husband, Charles D. Phillips, Ph.D., were joint recipients of the Public Service Award from the National Citizens Coalition for Nursing Home Reform for "their research that expanded coverage and public understanding of long-term care issues."