Research
Migration and urbanization can play key roles in population health. Sociologist Michael White and his interdisciplinary team are examining and addressing social science and public health concerns connected to chronic health conditions and their treatment, livelihood changes that accompany migration, and connections between the origin community and the migrants.
Their research seeks to help inform global health policy by improving the understanding of how migration and urbanization impact population health, improving understanding of population redistribution, identifying circumstances where population mobility itself may comprise the treatment cascade, and building scientific capacity.
Field research for the project is being carried out in rural northeast South Africa through a new five-year observational study, combining data from more than twenty years of extant data for a population of now more than 100,000 in demographic surveillance with a new longitudinal cohort of migrants and stayers drawn from that population.
In addition to the faculty working on the project, the following PSTC predoctoral trainees are also on the research team: Nicole Kreisberg, Chantel Pheiffer, Yashas Vaidya, and Rebecca Wang.
