People
Kara Zivin
Marcia A Valenstein M.D. Collegiate Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Medical School, Professor of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health and Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research
Research Interests:
Kara Zivin is a health services and policy researcher who uses social science and public health tools to improve health and functional outcomes for vulnerable populations with mental health and substance use disorders (behavioral health conditions), including pregnant and postpartum women, Veterans, and older adults.
She is a faculty associate of the University of Michigan Population Studies Center at the Institute for Social Research.
She is the Marcia A. Valenstein, MD Collegiate Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Professor of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan; Research Career Scientist at the Department of Veterans Affairs; and Senior Health Researcher at Mathematica, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dr. Zivin aims to increase public awareness about and influence policy addressing behavioral health conditions by combining research expertise (data) and personal narrative (story).
Select Publications
- Tipirneni, Renuka, Karmakar, Monita, Ayanian, John Z., Kara Zivin, Maust,Donovan, Langa,Kenneth M. 2026. Predictors and Consequences of Poor Health Trajectories Among US Adults Ages 50-64: A Latent Class Growth Analysis. Journal of General Internal Medicine 41:83-92.
- Platt, I. S. , Kara Zivin, Xiaosong, Z. , Tilea, A. , et al. 2025. Frontiers | Association between abortion restrictiveness and suicidality among birthing people in the United States 2010 to 2020. Frontiers in Reproductive Health 7:1553493.
- Briana Mezuk, Viktoryia Kalesnikava, Aparna Ananthasubramaniam, Annalise Lane, Alejandro Rodriguez-Putnam, Lily Johns, Courtney Bagge, Sarah Andrea Burgard, Kara Zivin. 2024. Psychosocial and pandemic-related circumstances of suicide deaths in 2020: Evidence from the National Violent Death Reporting System. PLOS ONE 19(10):e0312027.
- Kara Zivin, Chuwen Zhong, Alejandro Rodriguez-Putnam, Emma Spring, Qingyi Cai, Alyson Miller, Lily Johns, Kalesnikava,Viktoryia Alexandrovna, Anna Courant, Briana Mezuk. 2024. Suicide Mortality During the Perinatal Period. JAMA Network Open 7(6):e2418887-e2418887.
- Eisenberg, Daniel, Kara Zivin, et al. 2009. Stigma and Help Seeking for Mental Health among College Students. The Essentials of Political Analysis 66(5)
- Kara Zivin, Eisenberg, Daniel, Gollust, Sarah E., Golberstein, Ezra. 2009. Persistence of mental health problems and needs in a college student population. Journal of Affective Disorders 117(3):180-185.