Zohra Ansari-Thomas

I am an Assistant Professor in Sociology and Public Health at Franklin & Marshall College, where my teaching and scholarship focuses on population health inequalities and unpaid care work. I am also a Research Affiliate with the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. 

I recently completed my PhD in Demography and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, with a dissertation titled "Family and Unpaid Care in the Context of Population Aging." 

My research uses survey data and quantitative methods to examine social and structural inequalities in population health. My scholarship falls into three broad categories: 1) the social determinants of health and aging, 2) structures and institutions of (paid and unpaid; child and adult) care and outcomes for both care recipients and caregivers, and 3) family dynamics and implications for life trajectories. The aim of my research is to inform policy and practice to reduce health and socioeconomic inequalities among marginalized groups, and to challenge the social and structural institutions which uphold these inequalities.

My work has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Aging and Health, Journal of Family Issues, Journal of Comparative Family Studies, Demographic Research, and Contraception.

I am currently working on several projects pertaining to care work, which address gender, racial, and economic dynamics in care arrangements, and caregiving provided by older adults.

Before starting my PhD, I worked as a policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, where my work focused on sexual and reproductive health among immigrants and adolescents, and I completed an MPH in Epidemiology at George Washington University.

My CV can be found here.