Cynthia Colen
I am a social demographer whose research broadly focuses on the ways in which racial/ethnic inequalities, operating on both the macro and micro levels, impact the physical and mental health of minority populations in the United States. Through my work, I seek to challenge prevailing assumptions regarding the underlying social conditions that give rise to an unequal distribution of health across race/ethnicity. I employ a life-course approach as an overarching framework to guide my research efforts. This perspective highlights the importance of both childhood and adult factors, many of which stem from an individual’s place within the social hierarchy, in the production of health and wellbeing in later life. Thus, I not only consider how race/ethnicity shapes the distribution of population health outcomes across disparate subpopulations, I also examine how the patterning of these disparities changes as individuals move through successive life course stages. Read more