Sharon C Welburn

  • Assistant Professor
  • Faculty in Epidemiology

I am an injury epidemiologist with a strong interest in injury prevention (e.g. falls in older adults, motor vehicle collisions, and drug overdose), fatigability, and health disparities. I have been involved in injury research since 2009, starting with motor vehicle collisions and distracted driving with University of Alabama at Birmingham's Injury Control Research Center. My doctoral work focused primarily on the impact of fatigue and fatigability on fall risk, which included validating the mental subscale of the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale. I previously served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Health Sciences and Director of the Center for Health Disparities and Community Based Research at Columbus State University (CSU). While at CSU, I assisted with student and faculty development programs and built partnerships with community stakeholders. This included teaching in CSU’s BS in Health Science and MPH programs, promoting and encouraging undergraduate research, designing a study away course that brought together the disciplines of history and health science, and overseeing contracts and grants associated with the Center for Health Disparities and Community Based Research. Most recently, I partnered with West Central Health District and Columbus Health Department to address health disparities as well as the growing opioid epidemic in Muscogee County, Georgia.

Education

2011 | University of Alabama at Birmingham | Bachelor of Science, Psychology

2013 | University of Pittsburgh | Master of Public Health, Epidemiology

2019 | University of Pittsburgh | Doctor of Philosophy, Epidemiology

Selected Publications

Welburn SC, Fanning EE, Cauley JA, Brown PJ, Strotmeyer ES, Boudreau RM,  Bear TM, Moored KD, Cawthon PM, Stone KL, Glynn NW & Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study (MrOS) Research Group. (2023). Role of perceived physical and mental fatigability severity on prospective, recurrent, and injurious fall risk in older men. Journals of Gerontology. Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glad06.

Renner SW, Qiao Y, Gmelin TA, Santanasto AJ, Boudreau RM, Walston JD, Perls TT, Christensen K, Newman AB, & Glynn NW. (2022). Associations of fatigue, physical activity, and inflammation on gait speed: The Long Life Family Study. Aging Clin Exp Res, 34(2):367-374. doi: 10.1007/s40520-021-01923-x

Renner SW, Brown PJ, Bear TM, Boudreau RM, Andersen SL, Cosentino S, Cauley JA, Newman AB, & Glynn NW. (2021). Validation of perceived mental fatigability using the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale. JAGS, 69(5):1343-1348. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17017

Renner SW, Cauley JA, Brown PJ, Boudreau RM, Bear TM, Blackwell T, Lane NE, Glynn NW, for the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study Group. (2020). Higher fatigue prospectively increases the risk of falls in older men. Innov Aging, 5(1):1-8. doi:10.1093/geroni/igaa061

Welburn SC, Amin A, & Stavrinos D. (2018). Effect of electronic device use while driving on cardiovascular reactivity. Transp Res Part F Traffic Psychol Behav, 54, 188-195.

Complete list on Google Scholar 

Department/Affiliation