Recipients of PSC Small Grant Awards

My research investigates access to health care as both a cause and consequence of social inequality. Specifically, I study the Community Health Center (CHC) program, which originated in the 1965 War on Poverty and now provides health care to roughly 30 million predominantly low-income Americans. My project will link original historical data on the location of CHCs with the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), in order to ask whether these safety net clinics help to mitigate socioeconomic, spatial, and racial/ethnic health disparities in the United States. My interest in this topic is motivated by wanting to address the unsettling reality that many Americans cannot access basic health care services when they need it. Because CHCs comprise one of the only federal programs where health care is provided regardless of ability to pay, I hope that this project and my future research will pave a path forward to improving public policy and making access to health care more equitable in the future.