Skip to main content
Linderman Library Rotunda stained glass dome
Portrait of Judith Lasker

Judith N. Lasker

Professor Emerita of Sociology and Health, Medicine, & Society

judith.lasker@lehigh.edu
Education:

Ph.D. in Sociology, Harvard University, 1976.

M.A.  in Sociology, Harvard University, 1973.

B.A. in Sociology, Brandeis University,1969.

Smith College Junior Year Abroad:  Universite de Geneve, Institut de Hautes Etudes Internationales, Institut Africain‑‑Geneva, Switzerland, 1967‑68

Explore this Profile
×

Biography

Dr Judith Lasker joined Lehigh University in 1981 and retired in 2018.  She remains passionately interested in global health volunteerism and continues to conduct research in the field of health, medicine and society.   Her international experience includes research associate at the University of Abidjan, Institut d'Ethnosociologie in Cote d’Ivoire anda  Brocher Foundation residency in Hermance Switzerland.  She served as department chair and also as associate dean of the College of arts and Sciences.

A full CV is availbale on Dr Lasker's personal website.

Publications

BOOKS

In preparation. Beyond Hoping to Help; from Parachutes to Partnerships

2016   Judith N. Lasker, Hoping to Help: The Promises and Pitfalls of Global Health Volunteering Cornell University Press

2012   Ed Collom, Judith N. Lasker, and Corrine Kyriaucou, Equal Time, Equal Value:  Community Currencies and Time Banking in the USA, Ashgate Publishing.

1994     Judith N. Lasker and Susan Borg, In Search of Parenthood: Coping with Infertility and High Tech Conception (Artificial Insemination, Test Tube Fertilization, Surrogate Motherhood, and Ovum Transfer). Revised edition, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1989  British edition, Pandora Press  1987  First edition, Beacon Press

1989    Susan Borg and Judith N. Lasker, When Pregnancy Fails: Families Coping with Miscarriage, Ectopic Pregnancy, Stillbirth and Infant Death. Revised edition, New York: Bantam Books.  983, 1987   German edition, Tomus. 982    British edition, Routledge and Kegan Paul.  1981    First edition, Beacon Press

1992    Stewart Wolf and John G. Bruhn, in collaboration with Brenda P. Egolf, Judith N. Lasker, and Billy U. Phillips, The Power of Clan; The Influence of Human Relationships on Heart Disease. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers

ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS

2023    E. Rosenbaum, Lasker J., Prasad, S. and Schick, E. Applying the Brocher Declaration to Short-Term Experiences in Global Health in Dental Education. Front. Educ. Sec. Higher Education, Vol 8. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1214124

2022     Prasad S, Aldrink M, Compton B, Lasker J, Donkor P, Weakliam D, Rowthorn V, Mantey E, Martin K, Omaswa F, Benzian H, Calgua-Guerra E, Maractho E, Agyire-Tettey K, Crisp N, Balasubramaniam R. Global Health Partnerships and the Brocher Declaration: Principles for Ethical Short-Term Engagements in Global Health. Annals of   Global Health. 2022; 88(1): 31, 1–9. DOI:  https://www.annalsofglobalhealth.org/articles/10.5334/aogh.3577/

2021     E. E. Mantey, D. Doh, J. N. Lasker, S. Alang, P. Donkor and M. Aldrink, Ghanaian views of short-term medical missions: The pros, the cons, and the possibilities for improvement. Globalization and Health. 17:115 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00741-0

2019    V. Rowthorn, L. Loh, J. Evert, E. Chung, and J. Lasker, Not above the law: a legal and ethical analysis of short-term global health experiences. Annals of Global Health. 85(1), p.79. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/aogh.2451

2018     J.N. Lasker, M Aldrink, R. Balasubramaniam, P. Caldron, B. Compton, J. Evert, L. Loh, S. Prasad, S. Siegel. Guidelines for Ethical and Effective Short-term Global Health Activities; Developing Common Principles. Globalization and Health. 14:18 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0330-4

2018     B. J. Lough, R. Tiessen, and J. N. Lasker, Effective Practices of International Volunteering for Health: Perspectives from Host Partner Organizations. Globalization and Health. 14:11 DOI 10.1186/s12992-018-0329-x 

2018    S Siadatnezhad, T Ziaei, E Khoori, M Alivakili, J Lasker. Translation and validation of the Persian Version of the Perinatal Grief Scale in Iranian Mothers with an Experience of Pregnancy Loss.World Family Medicine/Middle East Journal of Family Medicine. 16:1, pp. 55-61

2017     A. Smaldino, J.N. Lasker, & C. Myser. “Clear as Mud: Voluntourism, Power Dynamics, and Global Health”. In N. Arya and J. Evert, Global Health Experiential Education; From Theory to Practice. Routledge.

2017     M. Rozier, J.N. Lasker, & B. Compton. Short-Term Volunteer Health Trips: Aligning     Host Community Preferences and Organizer Practices. Global Health Action.10:1, 1267957 

2015    International Health Volunteering; Understanding Organizational Goals. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations.  DOI: 10.1007/s11266-015-9661-4. In print: Voluntas (2016) 27:574-594

2014  J.N. Lasker, M. Rozier, & B. Compton. Short-Term Medical Mission Trips: Phase I Research Findings--Practices & Perspectives Of U.S. Partners. St. Louis:  Catholic Health Association of the United States.

2011    J.N. Lasker, E. Collom, et al., Time Banking and Health; the Role of a Community Currency Organization in Enhancing Well-Being.  Health Promotion Practice. 12(1):102-15. Epub 2010 Aug 4.

2010.  J.N. Lasker, E.D. Sogolow, L.S. Short .  Transplantation. British Journal of Health Psychology. Oct 16. [Epub ahead of print]

 E. D. Sogolow, J. N. Lasker, R. Sharim, R. M.Weinrieb, and D.A. Sass, Stigma and Liver  Disease: the case of Primary Biliary Cirrhosis. Illness, Crisis, and Loss. 18(3), 229-254.

J.N. Lasker, E. D. Sogolow, J. M. Olenik,D. A. Sass, and R.M.  Weinrieb, Uncertainty And Liver Transplantation; Women With Primary Biliary Cirrhosis Before and After Transplant. Women and Health. 50 (4), 1-17.

Cowchock, S., Lasker, J.N., Toedter, L., Skumanich, S., & Koenig, H.  Religious  beliefs affect grieving after pregnancy loss. J Religion and Health. 49(4):485-97.

2008    E.D. Sogolow, J.N. Lasker, L.M. Short, Fatigue as a Major Predictor of Quality of Life in Women with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis.  Women’s Health Issues, 18, 336-342

Nelson BA, Gunton KB, Lasker JN, Nelson LB, Drohan L: The  Psychosocial Aspects of Strabismus in Teenagers and Adults and the Impact of Surgical Correction.  Journal of the American Association for Pediatric  Ophthalmology and Strabismus, 12, 72-76.

2006     Bradley A Nelson, Kammi B Gunton, Judith N. Lasker. Strabismus Surgery in  Adults Must Be Considered Reconstructive Surgery.  Yearbook of Opthamology.

Susan D. Wiley, Judith N. Lasker, and Judith A. Swartley, “When PostPartum Depression Occurs; Detection and Treatment,” pamphlet for physicians and health care providers published by Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network

Judith N. Lasker, Judith A. Swartley, and Susan D. Wiley, “When PostPartum Depression Occurs: A medical guidebook for patients and their families,” pamphlet published by Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network

Lasker JN, Sogolow ED, and Sharim RR. “For better and for worse: family and friends’ responses to chronic liver disease,” Illness, Crisis, and Loss, 13, 249-266.           

Judith N. Lasker, Bonnie Coyle,  Michael Ortynsky and Kuang Li, Demographic and Medical Predictors of Low Birthweight in a Regional Hospital Based Population. Health Care for Women International. 26, 262-280.

Judith Lasker, Ellen Sogolow, and Rebecca Sharim. The role of an online community for people with a rare disease: content analysis of messages posted on a Primary Biliary Cirrhosis mailing list. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 7, e10.

2003     Judith Lasker and Lori Toedter,  The impact of ectopic pregnancy; a sixteen year follow up study.  Health Care for Women International. 24 (3), 80-97.

2001    Judith Lasker and Dawn Murray, Jews, Non-Jews, and Attitudes toward Reproductive Technologies.  Contemporary Jewry. 22, 80-97.

Susan McGorry and Judith Lasker, Elderly Latinos in the U.S: What do they know and think about HIV/AIDS? Journal of Non‑Profit and Public Sector Marketing. 9 (3), 89-103

Also in Marketing for the Millenium. Jerry W. Wilson, ed. Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings Volume XV, Fifteenth Annual Conference, Annapolis, MD  Sept 29 ‑ Oct 2, 1999

Judith Lasker and Dawn Murray, Attitudes toward Technologies for Conception;  A Fifteen Year Follow-up, Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 31(10), 2165-2183.

Lori Toedter, Judith Lasker, and Hettie Janssen, International Comparison of Studies using the Perinatal Grief Scale: A Decade of Research on Pregnancy Loss Death Studies.  25(3), 205-228.

Judith Lasker and Susan Borg, The Rise and Fall of Ovum Transfer: a Cautionary Tale, in Kathryn Strother Ratcliff, Women and Health; Power, Technology, Inequality, and Conflict in a Gendered World.  Boston: Allyn and Bacon (reprinted from In Search of Parenthood)

2000     Arthur Engler and Judith Lasker, Predictors of Maternal Grief  in the Year after a Newborn Death Illness, Crisis & Loss.  8, 227-243. Judith Lasker and Lori Toedter, Predicting outcomes after pregnancy loss; Results from studies using the perinatal grief scale, Illness, Crisis, and Loss. 8, 350-372.

Internet Publications

2018     Lasker J., Evert J., Adyatmaka I., Bermúdez Mora G., Woodmansey K., Seymour B. Module 5: Ethics and Sustainability. In: Toward Competency-Based Best Practices for Global Health in Dental Education: A Global Health Starter Kit. Edited by Seymour B., Cho J., and Barrow J. A project of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Global Oral Health Interest Group. Available at: https://hsdm.harvard.edu/global-health-starter-kit

2018    There's a burden on donors to avoid 'useless' humanitarian aid. The Hill. https://thehill.com/opinion/international/403568-theres-a-burden-on-don…

2018    Do Volunteer Vacations do More Harm than Good? The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/do-volunteer-vacations-do-more-harm-than-good?ref=author

2017    5 Ways to Actually Help a Community Recover from Disaster. Salon.com https://www.salon.com/2017/09/23/5-ways-to-truly-help-a-community-recover-from-disaster/                  

2016     Hoping to Help; Improving Short-Term Medical Missions. Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery Blog. http://ganm.nursing.jhu.edu/hoping-help-improving-short-term-medical-missions/

2016    Orphanage visits: Are they ever okay? https://judithlasker.com/2016/07/13/orphanage-visits-are-they-ever-okay/

2013:    How to Have the Best Possible Global Health Volunteer Trip. Campus Compact.                                                https://compact.org/?s=judith+lasker

 

Presentations on Global Health Volunteering: 2013-

https://judithlasker.com/lectures-and-conference-presentations/

Teaching

Medical Sociology                                                        Women and Health

Introduction to Sociology                                           Urban Communities

Issues in the Analysis of Health Policy                     AIDS and Society

Sociology of Aging                                                       Dying and Death

Women and Ethnicity in Global Perspective           Research Methods

Jewish Community and Identity                             Global Health Issues