The first installment of Mix it Up will feature our speaker, Dr. Cook, in a discussion of issues of intersectionality in medical research.

Dr. Stephanie Cook is a James Weldon Johnson Professor in the departments of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Biostatistics at New York University School of Public Health. She is also the Director of the Attachment and Health Disparities Research Lab (AHDL). Dr. Cook’s substantive methodological and statistical focus is in the development and application of longitudinal study designs (i.e., intensive longitudinal designs) for determining the ways in which dynamic changes in features of minority stress (e.g., daily and momentary discrimination events) are associated with changes in risk behaviors and physical health (e.g., substance use and pre-clinical cardiovascular disease) among racial/ethnic and/or sexual minority young adults. Dr. Cook’s overarching research focus is to understand how structural- and individual-level minority stressors contribute to mental health, physical health, and health behaviors across the lifespan in the virtual and physical worlds. Further, she seeks to understand how features of close relationships can exacerbate or buffer the negative effects of minority stress on health. Her work primarily focuses on young adults transitioning to adulthood who are at the intersection of racial/ethnic and sexual orientation status. In addition, much of her current work examines the links between minority stress (i.e., daily experiences of discrimination), biological markers of stress and disease (e.g., cortisol and C-reactive protein), and risk factors for cardiovascular disease (e.g., cardiometabolic health behaviors). Dr. Cook has won numerous awards for her research, service, and teaching including the Matilda White Riley Distinguished Early-Stage Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health, the Emerging Scholar recognition from Diverse Magazine, and the AmStat News “Data for Good” Challenge in Human Rights Award.

The Mix it Up series is hosted in partnership with the All of Us Research Program. Learn more about the All of Us Research Program here: Joinallofus.org/togetherDALLAS