Kerstin E. Pahl, PhD

My research explores how structural, cultural, and social influences impact the development of health, health behaviors, and health disparities among ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically diverse people across the life course using quantitative and qualitative methods. I am interested in how systems of oppression become psychologically and biologically embedded, both structurally and through social interactions, as well as what contexts, relationships, and individual characteristics help people resist internalizing oppressive structures.

One of my recently completed research projects explores the associations of cumulative socioeconomic disadvantage and racial discrimination with allostatic load in midlife Black and Latinx adults and whether social support, critical consciousness, and ethnic-racial identity mitigate these associations and foster well-being. Another project examines how manifestations of structural adversity, including racism, over the life course affect stress regulation and epigenetic age acceleration.

My research also examines the potential of cultural and structural humility, critical consciousness, and structural literacy in reducing bias and stigma. The latter area of research is accompanied by expertise in applied praxis; as part of the Center of Excellence for Research on Cultural and Structural Equity (CCASE) and in partnership with the Office of Mental Health of the State of New York, my colleagues are engaged in training providers of mental health services and peer and family advocates in cultural and structural humility using an innovative, theory-driven training approach.

I dedicate time to working towards to greater racial justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the spaces, in which I interact. Mentoring students, residents, and young investigators, especially those with identities underrepresented in higher education and research is of great importance to me. I am also a licensed/certified  psychoanalyst in New York and New Jersey.