Biography
My research broadly addresses social inequalities in health and religion. I am principally focused on religious, racial/ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in population health and their interplay with community contexts. For example, a current project uses nationally-representative data to examine the intersection of geographic contexts, educational attainment, and all-cause mortality in the United States. I am also interested in the causes and consequences of religious involvement and have studied social drivers of religious involvement and how religious ecologies and personal religiosity shape an array of social and health outcomes. I use statistical methods to analyze quantitative data, primarily from administrative databases and large social surveys. My work has been published in journals from a variety of fields including sociology, behavioral medicine, social epidemiology, public health, and gerontology. In addition to scholarly publications, my research has received coverage in media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. I teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level including Sociology of Medicine, Sociology of Mental & Physical Health, Sociology of Religion, and Methods of Social Investigation.
Education
PhD: Baylor University (2013)
Curriculum Vitae
Courses Recently Taught at LSU
(Syllabi are for illustrative purposes & subject to change)
- SOCL 4441: Sociology of Religion
- SOCL 4451: Sociology of Medicine
- SOCL 7211: Methods of Social Investigation
- SOCL 7491: Sociology of Health and Illness
- SOCL 7491: Religion
- SOCL 7691: Sociology of Mental & Physical Health