Mary Pat Sullivan

Dr. Sullivan is Programme Director of the MA in Social Work at Brunel University. She is also Programme Director of Gerontological Social Work Research for Brunel Institute of Ageing Studies and member of the Brunel University Research Ethics Committee. Dr. Sullivan is also an Executive Member of the British Society of Gerontology and a member of the Editorial Board of Ageing & Society. She previously she held a joint appointment between Faculty of Medicine, Queen’s University and Providence Continuing Care Centre as Director of Health Services Research for the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry in Canada.

Dr. Sullivan’s current research focuses on the social context of ageing and the implications for interdisciplinary practice in health and social care. Studies in progress include ageing without children (British Society of Gerontology), alcohol-related elder abuse (Alcohol Research UK) and temporal variations in loneliness (Brunel University). She also recently initiated a gerontological social work academic network in England and Wales, and is currently working with The College of Social Work to outline a strategic vision to improve social work’s capacity to care for an ageing population.