Faculty Guide

Title

Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy; Director, Institute for Child Youth and Family Policy

The Heller School for Social Policy and Management

Expertise

Public health, racial/ethnic disparities in health and social determinants of health, social policy and health

Profile

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia is Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, and Director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University. From 1998 to 2011, she was a faculty member at the Harvard School of Public Health (1998-2009) and Northeastern University (2009-2011). She is Project Director for diversitydata.org, an indicator project on racial/ethnic equity in U.S. metropolitan areas, and for diversitydatakids.org (launch expected Fall 2013), a comprehensive database of indicators on child wellbeing and opportunity by race/ethnicity across multiple sectors (e.g., education, health, neighborhoods) and geographies. Diversitydatakids.org will also incorporate systematic reviews, indicators and case studies on policies that may help improve the lives of vulnerable children and promote child equity. Both diversitydata.org and diversitydatakids.org are supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She is also a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Housing and Families with Children. Her professional activities include invited presentations at the HUD/MacArthur Foundation “How Housing Matters” Conference (2011, 2012), and at the White House conference on the Future of Rental Housing Policy (2010). She served on two national expert panels convened by the Centers for Disease Control (Housing and Health, and Social Determinants of Health), and on the expert panel for the award-winning PBS documentary series “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making us Sick?” She serves on the Social Science Advisory Board of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, and the National Coalition on School Diversity. She has served on the board of directors for the Fair Housing Center for Greater Boston, and the Committee on the Analysis on Impediments to Fair Housing (Boston Office for Civil Rights). Her research focuses on the social determinants (e.g. residential segregation, immigrant adaptation) of racial/ethnic health disparities; the role of social policies (e.g. housing policies, immigrant policies) in reducing those disparities; and the health and well-being of children with special needs. She received her B.A. in public administration from El Colegio de Mexico (Mexico City), and her MPA-URP and Ph.D. in Public Policy with a concentration in Demography from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.

Awards and Honors

One of the top 20 most-read papers in Health Affairs for 2008. Citation: Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, Theresa L. Osypuk, Nancy McArdle, and David Williams. (2008) “Towards a Policy Relevant Analysis of Geographic and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Child Healt (2009)

Harvard School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Citation (2008)

Harvard School of Public Health Mentoring Award (2003)

Charles Westoff Prize for Excellence in Demographic Research (awarded for dissertation research) (1996)

Courses Taught

HS	324a	Social Experimentation in Child, Youth and Family Policymaking
HS	602c	Children, Youth, and Families Doctoral Seminar

Scholarship

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Rosenfeld, LE, Hardy, E, McArdle, N, Osypuk, TL. "Future Directions in Research on Institutional and Interpersonal Discrimination and Child Health." American Journal of Public Health In Press. (2013).

Acevedo-Garcia & Almeida, J. "Special Issue introduction: Place, migration and health." Social Science & Medicine 75. 12 (2012): 2055-2059.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Sanchez-Vaznaugh, E, Viruell-Fuentes, E & Almeida, J. "Integrating social epidemiology into immigrant health research: A cross-national framework.." Social Science & Medicine 75. 12 (2012): 2060-2068.

Gomez Mandic, C, Rudd, R, Hehir, T & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Readability of Special Education Procedural Safeguards." Journal of Special Education 45. 4 (2012): 195-203.

McArdle, N, Hardy, E, Osypuk, TL, Acevedo-Garcia, D. The Changing Face of Homeowners in Large Metro Areas. diversidydata.org Issue Brief: 2012.

Osypuk, TL, Joshi, P, Geronimo, K, Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Do Social Policies Influence the Health of Women and their Children? A Summary of Strong Evidence and Implications for Designing Future Policies Using a 'Social Determinants of Health' Lens." Women and Health. Ed. MB Goldman, R. Troisi, KM Rexrode. Elsevier Publishing., 2012

Osypuk, TL, Tchetgen Tchetgen, E, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Earls, F, Lincoln, A, Glymour, M.. "Differential Mental Health Effects of Neighborhood Relocation among Youth in Vulnerable Families: Results from a Randomized Trial." Archives of General Psychiatry 69. 12 (2012): 1284-1294.

Firestone R, Punpuing S, Peterson KE, Acevedo-Garcia D, & Gortmaker SL. "Child overweight and undernutrition in Thailand: is there an urban effect?." Social Science & Medicine 72. 9 (2011): 1420-1428.

Hacker, K, Chu, J, Leung, C, Marra, R, Pirie, A, Brahimi, M, English, M, Beckmann, J, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Marlin, RP. "The impact of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on immigrant health: Perceptions of immigrants in Everett, Massachusetts, USA." Social Science & Medicine 73. 4 (2011): 586-594.

McManus BM, Carle A, Acevedo-Garcia D, Ganz M, Hauser-Cram P, & McCormick M. "Modeling the social determinants of caregiver burden among families of children with developmental disabilities." American Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities 116. 3 (2011): 246-260.

McManus, BM, Carle, AC, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Ganz, M, Hauser-Cram, P & McCormick, MC. "Social determinants of state variation in special education participation among preschoolers with developmental delays and disabilities." Health & Place 17. 2 (2011): 681-690.

Rosenfeld, L, Chew, GL, Rudd, R, Emmons, K, Acosta, L, Perzanowski, M, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Are Building-Level Characteristics Associated with Indoor Allergens in the Household?." Journal of Urban Health 88. 1 (2011): 14-29.

Rosenfeld, L, Rudd, R, Emmons, KM, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Martin, L & Buka, S. "Beyond reading alone: The relationship between aural literacy and asthma management." Patient Education and Counseling 82. 1 (2011): 110-116.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, L M Bates, Osypuk, TL. "The effect of immigrant generation and duration on self-rated health among US adults 2003-2007." Social Science & Medicine 71. 6 (2010): 1161-1172.

Gupta, J, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Hemenway, D, Decker, M R, Raj, A, & Silverman, J G. "Intimate partner violence perpetration, immigration status, and disparities in a community health center-based sample of men." Public Health Reports 125. 1 (2010): 79-87.

Lindberg, R, Shenassa, E, Acevedo-Garcia, D, et al. "Housing interventions at the neighborhood level and health: a review of the evidence." Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 6. 5 Suppl (2010): S44-S52.

Osypuk, T L, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Support for Smoke-Free Policies: A Nationwide Analysis of Immigrants, US-Born, and Other Demographic Groups, 1995-2002.." American Journal of Public Health 100. 1 (2010): 171-181.

Osypuk, T L, Bates, L M, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Another Mexican birthweight paradox? The role of residential enclaves and neighborhood poverty in the birthweight of Mexican-origin infants.." Social Science & Medicine 70. 4 (2010): 550-560.

Osypuk, TL and Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Beyond individual neighborhoods: A geography of opportunity perspective for understanding racial/ethnic health disparities." Health & Place 16. 6 (2010): 1113-1123.

Rosenfeld, L, Rudd, R, Chew, G, Emmons, K, & Acevedo-García, D. "Are neighborhood-level characteristics associated with indoor allergens in the household?." Journal of Asthma 47. (2010): 66-75.

Wolff, L S, Acevedo-Garcia, D, et al. "Subjective Social Status, a New Measure in Health Disparities Research: Do Race/Ethnicity and Choice of Referent Group Matter?." Journal of Health Psychology 15. 4 (2010): 560-574.

Wolff, L S, Subramanian, SV, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Weber, D, & Kawachi, I. "Compared to whom? Subjective social status, self-rated health, and referent group sensitivity in a diverse US sample." Social Science & Medicine 70. 12 (2010): 2019-2028.

Frank, R, Palma-Coca, O, Rauda-Esquivel, J, Olaiz-Fernandez, G, Diaz-Olavarrieta, C, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "The relationship between remittances and health care provision in Mexico.." American Journal of Public Health 99. 7 (2009): 1227-1231.

Gupta, J, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Hemenway, D, Decker, MR, Raj, A, & Silverman, JG. "Premigration exposure to political violence and perpetration of intimate partner violence among immigrant men in Boston.." American Journal of Public Health 99. 3 (2009): 462-469.

McManus, B, McCormick, M C, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Ganz, M, & Hauser-Cram, P. "The Effect of State Early Intervention Eligibility Policy on Participation Among a Cohort of Young CSHCN." Pediatrics 124. Supplement 4 (2009): S368-374.

Osypuk, T L, Galea, S, McArdle, N, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Quantifying Separate and Unequal: Racial-Ethnic Distributions of Neighborhood Poverty in Metropolitan America.." Urban Affairs Review 45. 1 (2009): 25-65.

Osypuk, T, Subramanian, S, Kawachi, I, & Acevedo-Garcia,. "Is Workplace Smoking Policy Equally Prevalent and Equally Effective for Immigrants?." Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 63. 10 (2009): 784-791.

Sanchez-Vaznaugh, E. V., Kawachi, I., Subramanian, S. V., Sánchez, B. N., & Acevedo-Garcia, D.. "Do socioeconomic gradients in BMI vary by race/ethnicity, gender and birthplace?." American Journal of Epidemiology 69. 9 (2009): 1102-1112.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, & Cacari Stone, L. "State Variation in Health Insurance Coverage for U.S. Citizen Children of Immigrants.." Health Affairs 27. 2 (2008): 434-446.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, & Osypuk, TL. "Residential segregation and health: the complexity of modeling separate social contexts." American Journal of Epidemiology 168. 11 (2008): 1255-1258.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Osypuk, TL, McArdle, N, & Williams, DR. "Towards a Policy Relevant Analysis of Geographic and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Child Health.." Health Affairs 27. 2 (2008): 321-333.

Acosta, LM, Acevedo-García, D, Perzanowski, MS, Mellins, R, Rosenfeld, L, Cortés, D, et al.. "The New York City Puerto Rican Asthma Project: study design, methods, and baseline results.." Journal of Asthma 45. 1 (2008): 51-57.

Bates, LM, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Alegria, M, & Krieger, N. "Immigration and generational trends in body mass index and obesity in the United States: results of the National Latino and Asian-American Survey (NLAAS), 2002-2003.." American Journal of Public Health 98. 1 (2008): 70-77.

Dubowitz, T, Subramanian, SV, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Osypuk, TL, & Peterson, KE. "Individual and Neighborhood Differences in Diet Among Low-Income Foreign and U.S.-Born Women.." Women's Health Issues 18. 3 (2008): 181-190.

Garcia, SG, Becker, D, Martinez de Castro, M, Paz, F, Díaz-Olavarrieta, C, & Acevedo-Garcia, D.. "Knowledge and opinions of emergency contraceptive pills among female factory workers in Tijuana, Mexico: Insights from a worksite intervention.." Studies in Family Planning 39. 3 (2008): 199-210.

Goldman, RE, Barbeau, E, Hunt, MK, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Emmons, KM, Gagne, J, et al.. "Perceptions of Health Promotion and Cancer Prevention Among Adults in Working-Class Occupations and Neighborhoods.." Health Education & Behavior 35. 6 (2008): 777-790.

Gupta, J, Silverman, JG, Hemenway, D, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Stein, DJ, & Williams, DR. "Physical violence against intimate partners and related exposures to violence among South African men.." CMAJ 179. 6 (2008): 535-541.

Osypuk, TL, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Are racial disparities in preterm birth larger in hypersegregated areas?." American Journal of Epidemiology 167. 11 (2008): 1295-1304.

Sanchez-Vaznaugh, EV, Kawachi, I, Subramanian, SV, Sánchez, BN, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Differential effect of birthplace and length of residence on body mass index (BMI) by education, gender and race/ethnicity.." Social Science and Medicine 67. 8 (2008): 1300-1310.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Soobader, M-J, & Berkman, LF. "Low birthweight among US Hispanic/Latino subgroups: The effect of maternal foreign-born status and education.." Social Science & Medicine 65. 12 (2007): 2503-2516.

Conboy, L, Kaptchuk, T, Eisenberg, D, Gottlieb, R, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "The relationship between social factors and attitudes toward conventional and CAM practitioners.." Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 13. 3 (2007): 146-157.

Dubowitz, T, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Salkeld, J, Lindsay, AC, Subramanian, SV, & Peterson, KE. "Life course, immigrant status and acculturation in food purchasing and preparation among low-income mothers.." Public Health Nutrition 10. 4 (2007): 396-404.

Dubowitz, T, Smith-Warner, SA, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Subramanian, SV, & Peterson, KE. "Nativity and Duration of Time in the United States: Differences in Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Low-Income Postpartum Women.." American Journal of Public Health 97. 10 (2007): 1787-1790.

Haas, JS, Earle, CC, Orav, JE, Brawarsky, P, Neville, BA, Acevedo-Garcia, D, et al.. "Lower Use of Hospice by Cancer Patients who Live in Minority Versus White Areas.." Journal of General Internal Medicine 22. 3 (2007): 396-399.

Jun, H.-J, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "The effect of single motherhood on smoking by socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity.." Social Science & Medicine 65. 4 (2007): 653-666.

Osypuk, TL, Kawachi, I, Subramanian, SV, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Are state patterns of smoking different for different racial/ethnic groups?." Public Health Reports 121. 5 (2006): 563-577.

Acevedo-Garcia D, Pan J, Jun H-J, Osypuk TL, Emmons KM. "The effect of immigrant generation on smoking.." Social Science & Medicine 61. 6 (2005): 1223-1242.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Soobader, M-J, & Berkman, LF. "The differential effect of foreign-born status on low-birthweight by race/ethnicity and education.." Pediatrics 115. (2005): e20-e30.

Chen, Y-Y, Kawachi, I, Subramanian, SV, Acevedo-Garcia, D, & Lee, Y-J. "Can social factors explain sex differences in insomnia? Findings from a national survey in Taiwan.." Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59. 6 (2005): 488-494.

Chen, Y-Y, Subramanian, SV, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Kawachi, I. "Women’s status and depressive symptoms: a multilevel analysis.." Social Science & Medicine 60. 1 (2005): 49-60.

Conboy, L, Patel, S, Kaptchuk, T, Gottlieb, R, Eisenberg, D, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Sociodemographic Determinants of the Utilization of Specific Types of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Analysis Based on a Nationally Representative Survey Sample.." Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 11. 6 (2005): 977-994.

Gold, DR, & Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Immigration to the United States and acculturation as risk factors for asthma and allergy.." Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 116. 1 (2005): 38-41.

Subramanian, SV, Acevedo-Garcia, D, & Osypuk, TL. "Racial residential segregation and geographic heterogeneity in black/white disparity in poor self-rated health in the US: a multilevel statistical analysis.." Social Science & Medicine 60. 8 (2005): 1667-1679.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Barbeau, E, Bishop, JA, Pan, JC, Emmons, KM. "Undoing an epidemiologic paradox: the tobacco industry’s targeting of U.S. immigrants.." American Journal of Public Health 94. 12 (2004): 2188-2193.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Osypuk, TL, Werbel, RE, Meara, ER, Cutler, DM, Berkman, LF. "Does Housing Mobility Policy Improve Health?." Housing Policy Debate 15. 1 (2004): 49-98.

Acevedo-Garcia, D, Lochner, K, Osypuk, TL, Subramanian, SV. "Future directions in segregation and health research: A multilevel approach.." American Journal of Public Health 93. 2 (2003): 215-221.

Ellertson, C, Heimburger, A, Acevedo-Garcia, D, et al. (. "Information campaign and advocacy efforts to promote access to emergency contraception in Mexico.." Contraception 2002 66. 5 (2002): 331-337.

Heimburger, A, Acevedo-Garcia, D, Schiavon, R, et al.. "Emergency contraception in Mexico City: knowledge, attitudes and practices among providers and potential clients following a 3-year introduction effort.." Contraception 2002 66. 5 (2002): 321-329.

Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Zip code level risk factors for tuberculosis: Neighborhood environment and residential segregation, New Jersey, 1985-1992.." American Journal of Public Health, 2001 91. 5 (2001): 734-741.

Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Residential Segregation and the Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases.." Social Science & Medicine 51. 8 (2000): 1143-1161.

Espenshade, TJ and Acevedo-Garcia, D. "Migrant cohort size, enforcement effort, and the apprehension of undocumented aliens.." Population Research and Policy Review 14. 2 (1995): 145-172.

Acevedo-Garcia, D and Espenshade, TJ. "Implications of a North American Free Trade Agreement for Mexican migration into the United States.." Population and Development Review 18. 4 (1992): 729-744.