“ Studying neighborhoods brings public health to a level that everyone can relate to.”
Caitlin Eicher, SM ’08, SD ’13
Prevention vs. Prescription Before entering HSPH as a master’s student five years ago, Caitlin Eicher’s path seemed to point towards clinical medicine. She earned a degree in psychology from Brown University and was considering medical school while working as a research assistant on end-stage clinical trials at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. But the job’s emphasis on pharmacology rather than prevention frustrated her. “The patients I worked with didn’t have a lot of options. Prevention was not spoken of much at this stage of the game,” she says. “It disturbed me how little I would be
is also pulling in census data that details the social and economic characteristics of the neighborhoods and mapping distances to an array of food retail outlets and other neighborhood features to build a complete picture of residents’ health environments. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11.5 million people in the United States live in lowincome areas more than one mile from a supermarket.
able to make a difference.” She was able to return to HSPH for doctoral study thanks to the Julie E. Henry Scholarship for Maternal and Child Health. She was close to choosing another school for financial reasons when the scholarship came in. “It made all the difference in the world,” she says. “Staying here allowed me to hit the ground running.” Building on her master’s studies, she was able to take her doctoral exam early and will ultimately be able to graduate early. “Caitlin exemplifies the sort of public health student that we like to turn out,” says Kawachi. “Given her independence and the creative way that she approaches problems, I see her as a potential leader in understanding neighborhood-level influences on obesity.”
and convenience store shelves at eye level, even lowering the cost of proPricing, placement matter duce cannot guarantee that people Geography matters, but clearly it is just one of a complex array of factors at buy more of it. Encouraging healthy eating work. Some of the housing sites Eicher is studying are actually near supermar- habits is complicated, says Kawachi, kets. However, when the market is an Eicher’s adviser. “It’s not just a matter of either changing preferences or upscale food retailer, high prices and improving access.” Efforts to establish unfamiliar products can keep many public-private partnerships to bring who live in the neighborhood away. more grocery stores into underserved Research has shown that factors such as shelf placement influence neighborhoods and incentivize corner people’s food choices. With cheap and stores to provide healthier food are underway in Philadelphia, New York, tempting items lining supermarket and in Massachusetts, which launched
a new campaign in February led by the state’s public health department. Eicher is part of a growing group of researchers drawn to understand what drives people’s health behavior and to tackle the larger forces that lead to obesity in some neighborhoods, from food policies and school lunch programs to poverty and mental health issues. Amy Roeder is assistant editor of the Review.
Spring | Summer 2011
33