Dr. Buchbinder's Biosketch
Dr. Sharon Buchbinder received her undergraduate BA in Psychology from the University of Connecticut
in 1973, and an MA in Psychology from the University of Hartford
in 1976. She worked in healthcare as an Intravenous Therapist from 1973 to
1980, where she was greeted by patients with “Not again!” each time she entered
their rooms. Unhappy with working only eighty hours a week, she returned to
school for an AAS in Nursing from Maria College in Albany NY. While attending
school part-time, she was employed by the State of New York Department of Mental
Hygiene and worked on a nurse exit survey examining reasons for turnover among
NY state psychiatric nurses.
Bitten by the research and policy bug, she went to work for the National
Commission on Nursing in Chicago IL and the American Hospital Association's Division of
Nursing, also in Chicago.
She then worked for the American Medical Association (AMA) (Chicago) from
1984-1990. While at the AMA she held a variety of positions in Science and
Technology, Medical Education and Marketing, Membership and Strategic Planning.
While employed full-time at the AMA, colleagues stalked her at the photocopier
and told her life would be incomplete without a doctorate. Gullible and
gleefully unaware of the work ahead, she pursued her PhD in Public Health
Sciences, majoring in Health Resources Management, with a collateral in
Economics. Dr. Buchbinder's dissertation was "Physician Job Satisfaction
and Prediction of Likelihood of Practice Change," the defense of which
completed her PhD requirements in 1992. Her family rejoiced, safe in the
knowledge that she was not interested in pursuing a law degree.
Dr. Buchbinder moved to Baltimore,
and took a postdoctoral fellowship in children's mental health services where
she looked at the impact of international medical graduates on the provision of
service for the severely mentally ill. Subsequent to the postdoc, she took a
position in the Johns Hopkins' School of Medicine (JHU SOM) as Research Coordinator of the
Evaluation of the Hawaii Healthy Start Program, a child abuse and neglect
prevention program that has been in existence for 15 years. The job required
several trips a year to Hawaii, and while it was a tough job, someone had to do it. During her time at
JHU SOM, she successfully pursued grant funding for "Primary Care
Physician Job Satisfaction and Turnover" and was promoted to the faculty
at JHU as a Research Associate.
Lured to Towson
University by the
prospects of big bucks and new audiences of undergraduate and graduate students
for her old jokes, Dr. Buchbinder became an Assistant Professor in 1996. In
2000, she grew into an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the undergraduate
Health Care Management Program. She was promoted to Full Professor in March of
2005 and appointed as Chairman of the Department of Health Science in June,
2005. She also conducts health care management research and provides relevant
and effective service to her department, college, university, and discipline,
and is Immediate Past Chair of the Board of the Association of University
Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA).
Dr Buchbinder and her husband, Dr. Dale Buchbinder, have a son who GRADUATED
on January 7, 2007 (YAAAAY!!) with a BS in English from Towson University.
When not attempting to make students and colleagues laugh, she can be found exercising
on an elliptical while reading, golfing, deep sea fishing, playing with her
cats and dog, writing healthcare management textbooks, romantic short stories,
and novels with a weird blend of horror, mystery, and romance. For a glimpse at
Dr. Buchbinder’s alter ego, go to www.sharonbuchbinder.com.