PhD
January 14, 2021
The influence of state minimum wage increases on health and behavior
Low and minimum wage work, prevalent in the United States, is a key driver of both income inequality and income-driven health disparities. Cities and states have increasingly moved to adopt higher minimum wages with the goal of closing the income gap and improving the economic well-being of their residents. Over the last decade, academics and…
Genomic epidemiology on the frontline: Inferring disease dynamics from pathogen genomes and supporting genomic analysis in applied public health settings.
Within infectious disease epidemiology, genomic epidemiology is a field that seeks to describe pathogen transmission dynamics using evolutionary analysis of pathogen genome sequences and associated metadata. Genomic data have a wealth of information; we can use them to group related cases of disease, detect cryptic disease transmission, differentiate source and sink populations, and describe how…
January 12, 2021
Improving Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Delivery for Young Women in Kenya
The rollout of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention to priority populations, including young women, is expanding in sub-Saharan Africa. However, existing barriers to PrEP rollout at the individual, community and policy levels could slow progress and impede the success of PrEP implementation programs. In order to achieve success in HIV prevention, it is crucial…
November 25, 2020
Firearm-related morbidity and mortality by injury intent: Analysis of medical, criminal, and vital records in Seattle, WA
BACKGROUND Due to the reliance on administrative records in firearm injury research, individual studies do not present an integrated picture of firearm injuries. Non-fatal and fatal injuries are frequently studied separately, as are injuries of different intents. Certain risk factors for assault-related firearm injuries, like characteristics of the neighborhoods where they occur, the injured person’s…
Incidence, Longitudinal Trajectory, and Hemodynamic Implications of Cardiac Dysfunction Following Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major public heath problem and leading cause of death and disability worldwide. While hemodynamic instability is common following TBI and associated with increased mortality, few studies have evaluated the function of the heart following TBI. Understanding the role of cardiac dysfunction following TBI represents a major gap in the…
Maternal periconceptional physical activity, sedentary behavior, and offspring growth
BACKGROUND Current guidelines recommend regular moderate/vigorous physical activity before and during pregnancy to reduce pregnancy complications. However, the recommendations do not include light physical activity or address fetal and postnatal growth. While reductions in sedentary behavior, in addition to regular moderate/vigorous physical activity, have been recommended for the general population, little is known about the…
Substance Use, Sexual Networks, and HIV risk among men who have sex with men and transgender women in Peru
BACKGROUND In Peru, the HIV epidemic is concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) in whom HIV incidence rates are as high as 4.2 per 100 person-years with HIV prevalence reported to be as high as 22% in MSM and up to 30% in TGW. This dissertation seeks to…
Public Park System Characteristics Associated with Physical Activity
Physical activity (PA) is protective of many chronic diseases, but most Americans are not sufficiently active. Public parks are places where PA occurs, and thus expanding park land or the facilities in parks could result in greater population levels of PA. There is a lack of robust evidence, however, linking greater park proximity or more…
HIV-1 Risk and Prevention Strategies for Women during Pregnancy and Postpartum
HIV-1 is the leading cause of death worldwide among women of reproductive age, and this group is a priority to reach with effective HIV-1 prevention. There is great potential to provide HIV-1 interventions to women during the periconception, pregnancy, and postpartum periods by leveraging existing healthcare settings that serve women and couples at high risk…
November 24, 2020
The 2014 chikungunya virus outbreak in the U.S. Virgin Islands: epidemiology, long-term health outcomes, and economic burden
Background: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an emerging and acutely debilitating alphavirus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito, was introduced into the Americas in December of 2013. As of April 2016, almost 2 million suspected or confirmed cases have been reported in 45 different countries in the Americas. Acute symptoms of the virus include…
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