Health in Social Context

Dr. Caudillo's research is focused on the determinants of outcomes such as contraception use, marriage, cohabitation, fertility, and behaviors that diverge from traditional gender scripts and heteronormative sexuality. She has a particular interest in how these outcomes are impacted by contextual phenomena such as school social environment, community violence, or state policy, and how these relationships contribute to reduce or reinforce gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequalities.

Dr. Amelia Branigan is a social demographer with central interests in inequality, health, and the criminal justice system. She currently has three projects ongoing. The first project considers the social consequences of variation in visible phenotype, specifically focusing on body mass and skin color. A second project uses Scandinavian registry data to consider how infertility, defined as the inability to conceive a wanted pregnancy, is associated with differential outcomes in children ultimately conceived.

Dr. Michel Boudreaux is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Services Administration in the School of Public Health, University of Maryland. He received a PhD (2014) in health services research, policy, and administration from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Boudreaux conducts research in two primary areas. His substantive area of interest is in the evolution of health and socioeconomic position across the life-course and between generations, with a special emphasis on the role of health policy on long-term outcomes.

Dr. Boekeloo's central interest over more than 25 years has been behavioral intervention to prevent sexually transmitted infections (STI), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among health disparity populations. As Project Director/Principal Investigator(PI), he has designed and led risk assessment and intervention projects regarding sexual and related behavioral risks.

Alok Bhargava is a professor of public policy. He studied economics and econometrics at the London School of Economics. Before joining the School of Public Policy, Bhargava was a full professor of economics at the University of Houston. He received his Ph.D. in econometrics from the London School of Economics. Bhargava has been publishing on important aspects of food policy and population health in several countries. He is an associate editor of the journal Economics and Human Biology. His ability to move between various disciplines has been described as "polymath powers".

As a life course criminologist, her research interests involve the study of patterns and predictors of offending from adolescence through adulthood. Key themes include the investigation of desistance and persistence in offending, the factors that facilitate and hinder desistance from criminal offending, divergence in offending across race/ethnicity, gender, and immigration status, and the application of innovative methodologies to understanding the mechanisms of behavioral change.

Dr. Oscar Barbarin is Chair and Professor of the African American Studies Department, University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Barbarin is the former Lila L. and Douglas J. Hertz Endowed Chair, Dept. of Psychology, Tulane University. He earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Rutgers University in 1975. He has served on the faculties of the Universities of Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina.

Dr. Héctor E. Alcalá’s research focuses on a few areas: 1) Understanding health inequities, particularly around race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, nativity and generation; 2) Examining the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on cancer, cancer screening and utilization of health care; 3) Use of tobacco products; 4) The impact of discrimination on health and utilization of health care.

Yuko Hara is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC) at University of Maryland, College Park. Her research interests include gender and family issues, well-being, and reproductive health. One line of her research investigates how changes in family obligations affect other aspects of life, including health conditions and health-related behaviors, and how the processes differ between women and men. Another focus of her research is on gender differences in the relationship between family obligations and paid work.

Katharine G. Abraham is Professor of Economics and Survey Methodology. Her published research includes papers on the work and retirement decisions of older Americans; how government policies affect employers’ choices concerning employment and hours over the business cycle; the effects of financial aid on the decision to attend college; discrepancies in alternative measures of employment, wages and hours; and the measurement of economic activity.