Discipline(s):
Public Health, Social Demography
Area(s) of Expertise:
Black-White disparities in Cardiovascular Disease, Black-White Disparities in Birth Outcomes, Stress and Black-White Health Disparities, Biological Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Disease and the Stress Process
E-Mail:
mhicken@umich.edu
Background:
Margaret Hicken received her doctoral degree in public health from the University of Michigan. Through her dissertation, she investigated the interactive role of the social and physical environments in hypertension disparities between black and white Americans. She found that a poor social environment exacerbates the effect of lead on blood pressure to explain lead’s persistent hypertensive effects documented in black but not white US population samples. These effects are not explained by health behavior-related hypertension risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and obesity. As an RWJ Health and Society Scholar, Dr. Hicken plans to examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms linking psychosocial stress to black-white disparities in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Hicken also plans to begin her study of the way in which epigenetic influences of the stress response systems are passed intergenerationally. Finally, she is interested in how social policies in how social policies modify the exposure to psychosocial stress.
Journal Articles:
Click here for a list of Margaret Hicken's available publications in PubMed.
