Dawn Richardson¹
Biography
Dawn Richardson is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, where she teaches Foundations of Public Health, Urban and Community Health, and Global Health. Richardson also serves as the Faculty lead for the Practice Experience.
Richardson is a social epidemiologist trained in Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR). Her research advances health equity by integrating and building on new knowledge, combining social determinants of health with the science of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), with the aim of developing policies and programs in response. Specifically, her research questions elucidate the pathways by which the unequal distributions of income, power and wealth (based on gender, race, ethnicity, immigration status, e.g.) affect health outcomes, social mobility, and access to opportunity. Working in partnership with community, she incorporate these findings into concrete programs and policies to promote population health. Her current research projects include: (1) understanding the intersection of place and health, specifically how neighborhood characteristics (e.g., race-based segregation, geographies of opportunity) shape health inequities; (2) examining the impact of racism, discrimination, and immigration status on access to reproductive health services and birth outcomes; and (3) evaluating work-place policies that impact maternal child health disparities (e.g., paid parental leave, breastfeeding support).
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of Tennessee Chattanooga, 1999
M.P.H., Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2002
Dr.P.H., University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 2010
Kellogg Health Scholar, University of Michigan, 2012
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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