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Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center

We examine the impacts of social and economic policies on racial and socioeconomic disparities in health, supporting evidence-based policymaking to achieve health equity.

Location

Kresge Building, 7th Floor 
677 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115 

Neighborhood Disadvantage and Health

Neighborhood Disadvantage and Health

Our research examines the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and mental health. These studies leverage a natural experiment in which refugees to Denmark were dispersed nearly randomly across the country. This allows us to examine the effects of various modifiable neighborhood-level characteristics on mental health among adults and children. The goal is to inform the development of clinical, community, and policy strategies to address place-based determinants impacting vulnerable populations.

Projects

Child and Adult Mental Health

FundingNIA R01

Recent Publications:

Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and psychiatric disorders among refugees: a population-based, quasi-experimental study in Denmark.

Risk of Psychiatric Disorders Among Refugee Children and Adolescents Living in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.

Brief: Refugee Resettlement and Mental Health

Neighborhood Deprivation and Mental Health Among Immigrants to Sweden.

Risk Factors for Chronic Disease and Mortality

Funding: NIA R01;  NHLBI K08

Recent Publications:

Mediating pathways between neighborhood disadvantage and cardiovascular risk: Quasi-experimental evidence from a Danish refugee dispersal policy.

Immigrants to the United States contribute to society: Here are 3 ways to support their transition.

The association of neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics with cardiovascular health: A quasi-experimental study of refugees to Denmark.

Neighborhood disadvantage and the risk of dementia and mortality among refugees to Denmark: A quasi-experimental study.