Directory

C. Marjorie Aelion's research examines ethnic and socio-economic disparities in exposure to environmental contaminants such as heavy metals, and their effects on health outcomes.

Sofiya Alhassan's Pediatric Physical Activity Lab focuses on utilizing community family-based physical activity interventions to improve physical and cognitive outcomes in underserved pediatric populations. Dr. Alhassan’s lab also examines 1) physical activity policy-based intervention in preschool-age children; 2) environmental influences on various health behaviors in children of color, and 3) after-school family-based intervention to improve physiological, psychosocial, and academic performance of pre-adolescent children of color.

Raphael Arku’s research examines how features of the social and physical environment influence health in resource-poor settings, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations both locally and globally. His work demonstrates how poverty, unsafe water and sanitation, lack of access to clean cooking fuel, and high levels of urban air pollution negatively influence health in low- and middle-income countries. In western Massachusetts he collaborates on investigations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with colleagues at Baystate Health.

Laura Attanasio's research addresses issues of quality and equity in women’s reproductive healthcare, drawing on theory and conceptual frameworks from health services research and sociology. Her current work focuses on understanding how the patient-provider relationship shapes decision making and procedure use in maternity care.

Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson's research focuses on four interconnected areas: 1) the epidemiology and etiology of premenstrual syndrome; 2) the epidemiology and etiology of accelerated reproductive aging and early menopause; 3) the intersection of reproductive and cardiovascular health in women; and 4) how vitamin D impacts women’s health throughout the life course. 

Elena Carbone's community-based research focuses on how diverse populations with low health literacy acquire and use information improve health and prevent disease; she is also interested in how health literacy and power interact to affect access to and use of health information.

David Cort's research focuses on social demography, social epidemiology, social stratification, and quantitative methods. 

Kirby Deater-Deckard is the director of the Healthy Development Initiative (HDI) based at the UMass Center Springfield. His research examines individual and group differences in human development, including the investigation of mental and behavioral health outcomes for historically marginalized groups.

Kathryn Derose's work focuses on understanding and addressing health inequalities, and she has particular expertise regarding social determinants of health, faith-based organizations, community-based participatory research, immigrants' healthcare access, Latino populations, and Latin America. 

Achsah Dorsey is biological anthropologist whose research incorporates evolutionary and ecological perspectives to understand the connections between nutritional status and disease ecology within households in Latin America. Her work acknowledges the complexity of human illness, paying special attention to how connections between global events and local contexts shape inequality and poor health outcomes.