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Barbara Elliott PhD is Professor of Family Medicine on the Duluth campus where she teaches ethics, the health issues of family violence, and spirituality and health care. She is also trained and works as a hospital chaplain.
Dr. Elliott's research investigates the health care needs and outcomes of those with limited access to health care, and has contributed to the health and well being of youth and adults in Minnesota. Her program of research has documented the personal, social and medical outcomes of extending access to health care to the under-served. She has had continuous grant support since 1984 for her research and its dissemination. Since Dr. Elliott's research is community based, extensive collaborative efforts with community, regional, and tribal organizations have developed.
In recent years, Dr. Elliott's major focus has been on the health and needs of adolescents, but her research has investigated outcomes in a range of settings, addressing health issues of children and adults a) in rural settings, b) living with violence, c) living on tribal lands, d) of families of teen parents, e) of adolescents who live independently of their families, f) of people living at the end of life, and g) of patients with dementia and their family caregivers. In the last several years she has begun developing research efforts more focused in the spirituality and health area, and looks forward to continuing to integrate these ideas into future efforts. The granted awards over the past decade have come from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HRSA (Maternal Child Health Bureau), National Cancer Institute, the Minnesota Departments of Children, Families and Learning and of Economic Security, the Healthier Minnesota Community Clinics Fund, and local foundations. She has been Principal Investigator for essentially all of these grants.
Dr. Elliott is invited regularly to participate in national and international activities, and to give presentations as an invited plenary speaker, a panel member, or discussant at professional symposia. Her work has been honored with several awards and recognitions, including the 2006 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Research.