Connecting the social and built environment to health and health inequalities
History
Since its inception in the early 1960s, the Social Environment and Health Program (SEH) has been a leader in theory development and empirical research on the role of psychosocial factors in the etiology and trajectories of mental and physical health and illness. SEH was first led by psychologists John R. P. French, Jr., Robert Kahn, and Floyd Mann. However, it has always been a multi-disciplinary program with collaboration among environmental health scholars, demographers, gerontologists, epidemiologists, and sociologists, notably including James House.
Today, the SEH program has expanded its interdisciplinary lens and includes scholars trained in sociology, geography, demography, architecture, gerontology, human development, epidemiology, health behavior, psychology, environmental engineering, and environmental health. We focus on context and its relation to health and, in particular, health inequalities. For example, one major focus has been on the role of neighborhood resources on social inequalities in aging and health throughout the adult life course. Our research also includes a focus on the intersection of the social with the physical environment, including climate change and environmental hazards, on socioeconomic and racial inequalities in health. In addition to empirical research, the SEH program houses several major data projects, including the Americans’ Changing Lives (ACL) longitudinal cohort study, the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA), and the Landscapes of Racial Dispossession and Control (Landscapes).
The SEH program is dedicated to training the next generation of interdisciplinary scholars at all educational and career stages from high school students in the University of Michigan Wolverine Pathways Program to SEH post-doctoral fellows. We also house the University of Michigan Transdisciplinary Approaches to Research on Racism (RacismLab) interdisciplinary research collective for the training of doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and junior faculty in the study of racism through critical perspectives.
People
Core Faculty
Philippa Clarke
Research Professor
Other affiliations:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health
Margaret Hicken
Research Associate Professor
Other affiliations:
Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Michigan Medicine;
Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research
Carina Gronlund
Research Assistant Professor
Social Environment & Health Program
Grace Noppert
Research Assistant Professor
Social Environment & Health Program
Kate Duchowny
Research Assistant Professor
Social Environment & Health Program
Ketlyne Sol
Research Investigator
Social Environment & Health Program
Research Staff
Iris Gomez-Lopez, Geospatial Analyst
Robert Melendez, Geospatial Data Specialist
Robert is a data analyst who has expertise in the data we use in order to understand neighborhood context. For example, he takes all of the data from the US Census to create measures of neighborhood poverty, affluence, and segregation.
Konstantinos Papaefthymiou, Data Project Manager
Konstantinos Papaefthymiou joined Social Environment and Health as a data project manager, having worked as a data curator at ICPSR and a research affiliate at USC CREATE prior. He holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Southern California and has contributed to research on topics including disaster resilience and environmental economics.
Lindsay Gypin, Data Project Manager
Lindsay Gypin (she|her) joined the SEH program and the National Neighborhood Data Archive as a Data Project Manager. She is an experienced educator and librarian, and recently earned an MLIS with a certificate in Research Data Management at the University of Denver. She enjoys playing board (and video) games with friends, reading, and spending time with her pets, Dewey, Dexter, and Quinn, and partner, T.
Amanda Ajrouche, Project Coordinator
Amanda Ajrouche is a Project Coordinator supporting Dr. Margaret Hicken’s WorkLife Study. Amanda is also working with Dr. Hicken on developing a manuscript that aims to further investigate the connection between racial inequities and environmental pollution. She holds a Master degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work and is dedicated to increasing research around underrepresented communities and Arab Americans.
Birch Chemberlin, Junior Professional Researcher
Birch graduated in May 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard College, where their thesis research focused on nationalism and political theory at Six Nations of the Grand River, a First Nation in southeastern Ontario. They were heavily involved throughout college in research and community-building endeavors relevant to Indigenous identity, history, experiences, perspectives, and issues. Birch grew up around the Midwestern US (including in Ann Arbor, for a few years!) and is an enrolled member of the Mohawk Nation at Six Nations of the Grand River. Outside of work and research, they enjoy writing, gardening, and running.
Giuliana Cusumano, Project Coordinator
Giuliana Cusumano is a Project Coordinator for the Weatherization Health Effects (WHE) and NSF SCC studies. Giuliana is an alumna of Michigan State University where she received her BA in International Relations. Her interest in applications of data science to social research was sparked by her thesis research project, which aimed to evaluate U.S. state facility solitary confinement policies. At present, Giuliana is a Master’s of Information student at University of Michigan. In her free time, Giuliana enjoys baking for friends and family, making music, and running.
Administrative Staff
Amanda Donovan
Amanda Donovan is a Project Coordinator for the Social Environment and Health Program, where she assists with pre- and post-award research project management. She received her BA in Russian Language and Literature from Michigan State University in 2008.
Brittni Delmaine
Brittni Delmaine joined SEH as an Assistant Editor Intermediate and brings with her more than ten years of freelance editing experience. She worked as a high school English teacher in North Carolina for seven years before earning her Master of Arts at the University of Chicago, where she studied post-truth theory and Cormac McCarthy. Most recently she has lived and worked as an academic advisor for first-generation college students at Black Hills State University in South Dakota. Her personal interests are reading, spending time with her one-eyed cat, and traveling.
Catherine Persad
Catherine Persad is joining the team as an Administrative Assistant Intermediate. She comes from the Office of the Provost where she served as an executive assistant and project assistant to the Vice Provost for Engaged Learning Team. Before joining the University, Catherine was an elementary teacher and taught Kindergarten-3rd grade. Catherine has a masters of arts in education from as well as a bachelors of science in movement science from the University of Michigan. In her spare time she enjoys taking walks with her Australian shepherd, Dani, baking, and playing sports!
Nicholas Prieur
Nicholas Prieur is a Research Process Senior Manager in the Social Environment and Health Program, where he serves as SEH’s overall research administrator. In his role he manages all pre-award research activities, financials, HR transactions, restricted project data contracts, IRB’s, and other program needs. He also leads the program’s shared administrative team, with specializations in post award, editing, publication production, social media, website maintenance and computing support. He received his BS from Michigan State University in 2002.
Post-doctoral Fellows
Chihua Li is joining SEH as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow with an interest in studying the development and management of chronic diseases among elderly populations. He received a doctoral degree at Columbia University. He likes exercise, training, and cooking.
Pre-doctoral Fellows
Dominique Sylvers
Health Behavior and Health Education
Dominique Sylvers is a doctoral student in the department of Health Behavior and Health Education (HBHE) at the School of Public Health. She received her Master’s of Public Health from HBHE in 2017, after which, she was involved with various aspects of chronic disease intervention research. As a pre-doctoral trainee in Social Environment and Health (SEH), her interest center around cognitive aging in African American adults, specifically the contextual influence of environmental factors such as neighborhood residential segregation and education inequality. Dominique also has an interest in Population Health and is a Population Studies Center Trainee.
