Research Areas
My research is focused on social inequities and population and reproductive health along three primary dimensions: racism, gender-based inequities, and migration. My research is both global and domestic with a particular focus on migrants and communities in and from the Middle East and North Africa. My research goals are ultimately to inform policy decisions and change systems and governance to lead toward population health equity.
1.
Discrimination and health - Racism is a known determinant of poor health and creates health disparities. This body of work focuses on how Islamophobia, the racialization of religious minorities, racism, xenophobia, and structural forms of racism and discrimination shape population health outcomes in the U.S. and globally. This work also focuses on collecting data and leveraging existing multilevel data to better measure racialization of groups, like religious minorities and communities from the Middle East, that have historically been overlooked in research on racism and health.
2.
Gender inequities and reproductive health - Using population-based longitudinal data, I examine how the status of women changes over time and implications for women’s empowerment and sexual and reproductive health and fertility. Much of this work takes a global justice approach and examines women’s empowerment, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa where countries are ranked the worst on the Global Gender Gap Index.
3.
Migration and health - Anti-immigrant policies are xenophobic and a form of racism that is mutually incompatible with public health and valuing health for all. This area of research considers the structural context of migration, forced migration and refugees, immigrant families, contexts of reception, and population and reproductive health over the life course. Most recently, I developed the Immigration Policy Climate (IPC) Index as a measure of structural xenophobia to be leveraged in domestic migration and health research.