Zohra Ansari-ThomasAssistant Professor of Public Health & Sociology

My research uses survey data and quantitative methods to examine social and structural inequalities in population health. My scholarship falls into three broad categories: 1) the social determinants of health and aging, 2) structures and institutions of (paid and unpaid; child and adult) care and outcomes for both care recipients and caregivers, and 3) family dynamics and implications for life trajectories. The aim of my research is to inform policy and practice to reduce health and socioeconomic inequalities among marginalized groups, and to challenge the social and structural institutions which uphold these inequalities.

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

2023-   Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Program in Public Health, Franklin & Marshall College

2023-   Research Affiliate, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

2022-23 Associate Fellow, The Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

PhD     Demography & Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 2023

Dissertation: “Family and Unpaid Care in the Context of Population Aging”

Committee: Chenoa Flippen (Chair), Pilar Gonalons-Pons, Emilio Parrado

Comprehensive exams: Demography; Family sociology (with distinction)

Affiliated PhD student, International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health, and Data Science

MPH    Epidemiology, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, 2018

BA       Economics and Environmental Studies, Oberlin College, 2014

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

Population studies; Health and aging; Care work; Families; Migration; Social determinants of health

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Ansari-Thomas, Zohra. (2023). Immigration and Intergenerational Co-residency among Working-Aged Adults in the United Kingdom. Advance online publication. Journal of Family Issues.

Ansari-Thomas, Zohra. (2022). Care Needs and Arrangements of Aging Immigrants in the United States. Journal of Aging and Health, 35(3-4):191-208.

Ansari-Thomas, Zohra. (2022). Migration, Marriage, and Cohabitation among Hispanic Immigrant Women in the United States. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 53(3): 331-355.

Boen, Courtney, Nick Graetz, Hannah Olson, Zohra Ansari-Thomas, Laurin Bixby, Rebecca Anna Schut, and Hedwig Lee. (2021). Early Life Patterns of Criminal Justice Involvement: Inequalities by Race-Ethnicity, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status, Demographic Research, 46(5): 131-146.

Ansari-Thomas, Zohra, Sheila Desai, and Laura D. Lindberg. (2020). Sexual Activity, Contraceptive Use and Sexual Violence among Asian High School Students in the United States, Contraception, 101(2): 86-90.

Course Information

PBH 251. Introduction to Public Health

PBH 475. Public Health Research: Death, Sex, and Society