FOCUS
Current research perpetuates a narrow understanding of built and social environments as static hubs where “bad health” only occurs in “bad neighborhoods,” drawing attention away from external forces that shape neighborhood conditions and the well-being of residents. By examining place, race, and health through a historical lens, Shannon hopes to evaluate how structural forms of racism, discrimination, and dispossession have evolved and how these systems of oppression affect neighborhoods of color. Her current research aims to identify the salient pathways in which neighborhood change processes, such as gentrification, produce health disparities. Through the use of transdisciplinary methodology, Shannon’s research will inform the development and implementation of equitable policy solutions that promote the upward mobility of disenfranchised communities.
MORE ABOUT SHANNON
Shannon is a first-generation Jamaican-American from Brooklyn, New York. Her background provides her with the lived experience to examine the sociopolitical determinants that shape community health. As a member of the HPRS family, she hopes to produce research that centers community empowerment and influences the development of equitable policy to enact neighborhood-level change.
DISSERTATION GRANT AWARDEE — FALL 2023
Gentrification, displacement and health equity: Moving from risks to solutions
There is a dearth of research that examines the relationship between gentrification, displacement and health, especially within Black communities. There is also limited research assessing structural level interventions that can reduce the health inequities perpetuated by gentrification and other place-based processes. The proposed dissertation addresses these critical gaps through three aims. First, the dissertation uses concept mapping, a participatory mixed methods approach, to examine how Black residents in New Haven experience gentrification in ways that influence health and well-being. Second, employing spatial Bayesian modeling, the dissertation examines how variations in the type and intensity of gentrification influence experiences of domestic violence in Baltimore, Maryland. Third, the dissertation looks to the future to model the effects of reparations payments on Black health using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979.
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