Karen Bullock, an NC State professor as well as alumna and head of the department of social work, is a leader in advancing social work practice, education, gerontology training, mental health and palliative end-of-life care.

Bullock’s current research focuses on cancer care and social support for older adults with non-curable illnesses. Bullock’s past clinical and research experience influenced her current research focus on cancer care and social support for older adults with non-curable illnesses.

“I applied to graduate school, went to Columbia, and while there, I was immersed in a sort of clinical world.” Bullock said. “My internships were in hospitals and I worked with families and children at the time, mostly around mental health issues.”

Wilma Peebles-Wilkins is an NC State alumna who formerly taught Bullock during her time as an undergraduate at NC State.

“Dr. Bullock was a very resilient first-generation college student. She was the first BSW student from NCSU to enter the MSW Program at Columbia University,” Peebles-Wilkins said.

According to Bullock, she became more interested in research as she began to perform clinical work.

“I’ve sort of been chasing this idea of research and ‘how do I use it,’ those kinds of things but at the same time maintaining my clinical practice approach, and I think that evidence informs practice and practice should inform evidence,” Bullock said.

Upon graduating from a master’s program, Bullock began working in a clinic in the Bronx, New York. According to Bullock, the clinical work focused on individuals who had addictions to drugs. As HIV and AIDS began to gain attention within the early ‘90s, Bullock worked as part of a research team and combined research with practice.

“At that point, I had achieved my goal of being able to be a part of a research team in the way I really wanted to and as a professional,” Bullock said. “So I graduated, had my master’s degree and was very ambitious. I just observed some things happening in the research and I thought, ‘if I were a researcher, I would do this differently.’ That’s what really sort of compelled me to go on for doctoral studies.”

Bullock went on to pursue doctoral studies at Boston University and became more immersed in community practice and research.

“During my doctoral studies, I was looking at family systems as I was at the master’s level, and I realized that older adults were often times in these extended family networks and not enough of the literature was answering my questions about the role of older adults in these family networks,” Bullock said.

According to Bullock, she decided to design her own study, which became her dissertation work and how she began working with older adults.

“While I was in my doctoral program, my mother was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, and that’s what peaked my interest in terms of understanding cancer, cancer care and social-support networks,” Bullock said. “As a doctoral student who was interested in older adults, now I had this even more specific thing that I was interested in — how do we care for older adults in our social support networks?”

According to Peebles-Wilkins, Bullock is considered a social worker of gerontology. She is also a Hartford Scholar, well published in her field and receiving research grants.

“She is respected nationally, and I even consult with her about aging issues and the care of elderly family members,” Peebles-Wilkins said.

According to Bullock, she did not plan this path, and sometimes it still surprises her to be in the role of head of the department of social work. Bullock was also the first African-American promoted to the rank of full professor in the department of social work.

“My mentor said, ‘You should think about graduate school,’ and I thought ‘I should?’ Bullock said. “She recently asked me, ‘Did you know that you are the first African-American to be tenured in the social work department here?’ and we’ve had a social work program since 1974. When she told me that, I thought there should be more, I should not have been the first. I’m glad to be here, and I’m really delighted that I can serve in this capacity because there are very few people who look like me who are in administrative positions here at NC State.”

According to Peebles-Wilkins, Bullock’s leadership skills are quite good, and she brings a keen eye to diversity issues in the department of social work. Peebles-Wilkins said she thinks Bullock has a balanced perspective about working with people, which grows out of her own life experiences. She said her combination of skills and abilities help promote community engagement, fulfilling the NC State land grant institution mission.

“I believe in respecting people’s differences, so I’m always going to present myself in a way that demonstrates that I’m committed to differences across the board, and we teach our students how to do that,” Bullock said. 

A version of this article appeared in print on Feb. 16, 2017 with the headline: “Professor delves into elderly care, clinical work.”