Dawn Richardson¹
Biography
Dr. Richardson is the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Operations for the SPH, where she supports the Dean by providing strategic direction and operational oversight to advance the mission and goals of the SPH. In this role she oversees our Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Student Success, Social Justice, and Communications & Marketing portfolios. Prior to this role, Dr. Richardson served as the Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, and before that as our school’s inaugural Associate Dean for Social Justice, where she developed and implemented our social justice and antiracism initiatives.
Dr. Richardson’s administrative leadership roles connect directly to her scholarship as a social epidemiologist and mixed-methodologist with extensive training and experience in health inequities research and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Her research focuses on investigating the social and structural determinants of health inequities, particularly among Latinos and populations of color. She has over a decade of experience conducting research aimed at understanding how systemic racism and socioeconomic inequity drive adverse health outcomes and how these compound and perpetuate inequities across the life-course. She has explored these issues with quantitative, qualitative, visual and spatial methods to characterize structural factors and individual experiences, with the aim of developing program and policy-based interventions in response. Her most recent research efforts include: an NIH diversity supplement aimed at reducing inequities experienced by Latinos in colorectal cancer testing and treatment; an NIH-funded study on documentation status and immigrant women’s health; an evaluation of paid leave policies and barriers to access; and a study aimed at supporting women of color in STEM-focused public health.
Education, Degrees
1994 University of Tennessee, Chattanooga B.S. Psychology
2002 Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine MPH Global Health
2010 University of California, Berkeley DrPH
2012 University of Michigan, Kellogg Health Scholars Postdoctoral Program
Awards and Honors
- 2019: Selected Participant, Latino Network’s UNID@S Oregon Leadership Program, Cohort VIII
- 2018: Recipient, PSU President’s Diversity Award for Distinguished Faculty
- 2017: PSU Faculty Fellow for Equity & Social Justice in Community-Based Learning
- 2016: PSU Faculty Fellow for Sustainability, Institute for Sustainability Studies
- 2013: PSU Faculty-in-Residence for Engagement, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2012: PSU Faculty Fellow for Community Partnership, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2011: Selected Mentee, American Academy of Health Behavior/Kellogg Health Scholars Program
Research
- 1R21HD087734-01 NIH (Messer) 05/06/16-04/30/17 Role: Co-Investigator Social Factors Influencing Pregnancy Outcome Disparities This study aims to identify how nativity and documentation status shape adverse PO (inappropriate maternal weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)/eclampsia, PTB, term BW, small for gestational age (SGA)) and how the residential food context exacerbates risk for adverse outcomes.
- 1UL1MD009596 / 1RL5MD009591 / 1TL4MD009634 NIH (Crespo) 09/26/14-06/30/19 Role: Co-Investigator Enhancing Cross-Disciplinary Training at Oregon (EXITO) The major goal of this project is to recruit, train, and support diverse undergraduate students seeking research careers in the biomedical and social sciences. This is part of a broad national strategy to develop and evaluate innovative strategies for engaging undergraduate researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences, and preparing them to thrive in the NIH-funded workforce.
¹ CEPH Primary Instructional Faculty
² CEPH Non-Primary Instructional Faculty
Experienced Faculty With Diverse Backgrounds
More than 150 faculty members work within the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. They have a wide range of expertise, from monitoring and assessing health risks and opportunities in populations, to helping build health-supporting social environments through policy, advocacy, and programs. They are educators, advisors, researchers, practitioners and community leaders. They come from backgrounds in quantitative, behavioral, environmental and social sciences, policy and government, exercise and health sciences and anthropology, among many other areas. They all work in collaboration with each other and with community partners, and are especially focused on the training and education of future leaders and practitioners in the public health fields.
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