Public Health’s Krupp awarded Fulbright Global Scholar Award

Karl Krupp, PhD, an assistant professor of public health practice in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, was awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar Award in support of his research on how cities develop infrastructure to manage aging populations.

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“I am a global health researcher, so getting a Fulbright is important to me because it helps promote the importance of working globally to solve problems in the United States,” Krupp said. “The U.S. is on the same trajectory as most other developed countries in the world. In 2050, almost one in four people will be over age 65, so planning for this future should be a critical public health priority.”

Krupp’s research will compare how two cities, Mysore, India, and Stockholm, Sweden, currently support their elderly populations and how they are planning for the large increases in aging populations in the coming years. According to Krupp, both cities are about the same size, but face very different problems.

“India is currently coping with a growing population of urban ‘young old,’ people in their 60s and 70s who are consuming about five times more government-sponsored healthcare than their younger peers. They also are a target for crime and have serious problems with transportation, nutrition and sedentarism,” said Krupp, who is also a member of the UArizona Cancer Center and the UArizona Center for Health Disparities Research. “Stockholm, on the other hand, is dealing with a bulge in the ‘old old,’ people in their 90s and centenarians, who have severe limitations in mobility and high rates of chronic problems like dementia. They pose very different challenges for municipal planners.”

The Fulbright Global Scholar Award supports U.S. academics and professionals to conduct research and engage in multi-country, trans-regional projects with the goal of strengthening relationships between the United States and other countries.

“All of us in the college are proud and inspired that Karl received a Fulbright award to pursue this work,” said Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, MPH, dean of the Zuckerman College of Public Health. “Our college is committed to improving global health, and Karl’s research on how to best support aging populations will provide important insights that will guide future health services decisions as the world’s population rapidly ages.”

Krupp, who joined the Zuckerman College of Public Health two years ago, said, “The college has a great faculty and is very focused on implementation research that can have a big impact on social issues, like aging. Cecilia Rosales, MD, MS, the associate dean of community engagement and outreach and associate dean of Phoenix programs, and Scott Carvajal, PhD, MPH, Health Promotion Sciences department chair and professor, have been wonderful mentors and provided the support I needed to move my career forward.”

The Fulbright Program was created in 1946 with funding from Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to improve mutual understanding among people of the U.S. and other countries. Through it, more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals have been afforded the opportunity to study, teach, exchange ideas, conduct research and contribute to solutions to important international challenges. Visit the Office of Research, Innovation and Impact's website for more information on Fulbright opportunities at the University of Arizona.