Katherine Dickinson

Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar '08-'10
Department of Population Health Sciences


kldickinson@wisc.edu

Research Interest Statement
Katherine Dickinson received her Ph.D. in Environmental Economics and Policy from Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment in 2008. Katie's dissertation developed a model of households' environmental health decisions that emphasized households' private costs and benefits as well as the public good aspects of these behaviors. Since some of the "payoffs" to an individual household will depend on the choices of neighbors or peers, Katie's empirical studies focused on the role of social interactions in influencing households' behaviors in the case of a sanitation intervention in Orissa, India, and malaria control choices in Tanzania. As a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar, she is engaged in a multidisciplinary project mapping vulnerability to emerging infectious diseases in developing countries, with a focus on the socioeconomic determinants of vulnerability. She is also exploring similar linkages and behavioral issues among vulnerable populations in the United States, including a study on childhood obesity and the built environment among Wisconsin Native American communities. Katie received Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Earth Systems from Stanford University.