SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF VACCINATION AMONG AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
Working conditions expose agricultural workers to risk factors for multiple vaccine-preventable diseases. At the same time, agricultural workers experience unique challenges to vaccination due to contexts that constrain healthcare access. This research aims to (1) identify working conditions and social factors that shape vaccine uptake among California’s agricultural workers and (2) inform targeted interventions for improving vaccine uptake within the agricultural labor force.
The project is funded by a Supporting Labor Research and Education in the Central Valley Grant from the University of California, Merced Community and Labor Center (2024).
sTIGMA AS A FUNDAMENTAL CAUSE OF HEALTH INEQUALITIES FOR SEXUAL AND GENDER MINORITY POPULATIONS
The role of stigma as a fundamental cause of health inequalities has received relatively little attention. This project aims to (1) empirically test whether stigma is a fundamental cause of health inequalities for sexual and gender minority populations and (2) examine whether state-level structural stigma moderates the relationship between sexual and gender minority status and inequalities in highly preventable disease.
This project is funded by a University of California Hellman Faculty Fellows Award from the Hellman Foundation (2024-2025).
Prosocial Attitudes and adult HPV Vaccination
HPV vaccination is a prosocial behavior because it confers protection to the vaccine recipient and others in their community. This project collects survey data from adults aged 27–45 across the United States to examine whether exposure to messages emphasizing HPV vaccinations’ prosocial benefit for others (vs. messages emphasizing the benefit for the vaccine recipient) differentially influences vaccination intentions, based socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
This project is funded by a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Riverside (2019–2021).
Socioeconomic Inequalities in Childhood Vaccination in Denmark
This multi-pronged study focuses on several aspects of vaccination practices in Denmark including the impacts of family- and community-level socioeconomic status on whether childhood vaccination occurs and how misinformation may be shaping socioeconomic gaps in childhood vaccine uptake.
This project is a collaboration with Vibeke Tornhøj Christensen (VIVE, The Danish Center for Social Science Research) and Richard Carpiano (University of California, Riverside) and is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (2018–2023).