Affiliation(s):

• Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Wayne State University

My current research focuses on three main topics:

• Environment and health and health care choices: In this area, I have examined the impact of the Flint water contamination on how parents make health care choices for their children, whether in the form of pregnancy behaviour or primary care for children.
• Impact of COVID-19 on health behaviours: The research which has been most interesting to me examines the role of alcohol consumption in domestic violence during the lockdown period in Detroit.  As one would guess, we find that during the lockdown, visits to liquor stores are much more strongly associated with domestic violence, as the venue of consumption moves into the home environment.  Another area of my research on this topic includes examining the impact of the lockdown on preventive care as seen through dental visits
• Patient insurance and delivery of care: We think that having health insurance solves most problem of access to health care.  My research looks at how treatment in the emergency department changes when patients become insured – do they get more procedures and what kind of procedures?   This area of research is now extending into racial and ethnic disparities health care in the emergency department.

While my research interest revolves generally on decisions around health and health care, my current areas of research were shaped by happenstance, availability of interesting data, and discussions with amazing co-authors.  I engaged in environmental research when I started at Wayne State as, at the time, the Flint water contamination brought to attention the toll of pollutants on the wellbeing of vulnerable communities in the state.  Research into domestic violence and alcohol consumption resulted from gaining access to newly available, incredibly detailed data that allowed us to overcome many previous limitations in research and a longstanding collaboration with a criminologist-health economist team. I genuinely value close collaborations across fields, as I always learn new ideas, new perspectives, and new research methods.

An emerging area of research which, I think, will lead my field in the next decade is in disparities in health care.  In the past few years, I have had the privilege of being included in the Population Health OutcomEs aNd Information EXchange (PHOENIX) initiative at Wayne State, led by Dr. Phillip Levy, which integrates clinical, socioeconomic, environmental, and spatial data of Detroit and its residents to understand the role of social and environmental determinants of health in persistence of chronic condition hot spots around the city, and develop mobile targeted interventions that address its upstream causes.  In Detroit, this initiative inevitably revolves around deep racial and ethnic disparities in seeking and delivery of health care.  PHOENIX brings attention to the fact that passively offering opportunities for health care to racial and ethnic minority communities will not close disparities in health outcomes – an active engagement with these communities to meet their needs is the future direction of research and interventions.

It is difficult for a woman in STEM to have a role model – especially in economics, where there are not many senior women.  And each woman has carved a path of their own, which makes it difficult to have a single role model.  So, instead of naming a role model, I will describe what inspires me about women in my field:

I love to garden, both indoors and outdoors.  After a recent renovation, I replaced the lawn in my front yard with terraced flower beds.  I grow annual and perennial flowers that are low maintenance – daffodils, peonies, daisies, marigolds, dahlias, lilac, and foxglove.  Indoors, I have a wide range of plants which add cheerful greenery in winter months.  In each of my offices, I have a few plants that keep me company – jade, cacti, pothos, ficus, angelwing begonia, and many others.