On April 14th, The Office of Graduate Studies and the Drexel Graduate Students Association held their annual Drexel Emerging Graduate Scholars (DEGS) poster showcase. Dozens of graduate-level researchers across a variety of fields at Drexel convened at the Bossone Research Center to share the most cutting-edge research happening at the school.
Among those accepted were 6 doctoral students of the Urban Health Collaborative, and one of whom, Shreya Patel, won the first prize at DEGS for her research! Learn more about the innovative research conducted by UHC students on display below.
Shreya Patel (Best Poster Award)
Extreme Heat and Emergency Department Visits during the Postpartum Period in Philadelphia, PA.
Although extreme heat is a well-established risk factor during pregnancy, its health impacts during the postpartum period remain poorly understood. The research Shreya presented at DEGS this year – which also received first prize throughout the entire exhibition – investigated this under-researched area.
The study looked at postpartum individuals between May-September 2016-2019 in Philadelphia who were on Medicaid and examined whether very hot days—especially hot nights—were linked to emergency room visits. Shreya and her coauthors found that when nighttime temperatures were extremely high (categorized as 80°F or above), the risk of an emergency department visit was about 20% higher compared to typical summer nights.
What's more, among cause-specific outcomes, mental health-related visits showed the strongest increases in extreme heat, with the risk more than doubling once temperatures reached higher than 80°F, though estimates were imprecise due to small event counts.
These findings suggest that the period after childbirth is an overlooked time when people may be especially vulnerable to heat, with important implications for health care and public health planning.
Gianni Anfuso
A Bayesian Approach to Estimating Changes in Small Area Life Expectancy Disparities in Philadelphia
There is substantial geographic variation in life expectancy. Gianni's research presented at DEGS seeks to examine this phenomenon within the context of neighborhoods in Philadelphia, and how life expectancy changed across neighborhoods before COVID‑19 (2017–2019) and during the pandemic (2020–2022).
To account for small counts, Gianni and his coauthors employed a Bayesian Poisson model borrowing strength from neighboring census tracts by using conditional autoregressive priors, and from known mortality patterns by age by using an adaptation of the TOPALS (tool for projecting age patterns using linear splines) method.
They ultimately found that life expectancy dropped during the pandemic—by about 2 years for men and about 1.5 years for women on average – and the largest declines took place in neighborhoods that already had lower life expectancy, especially lower‑income areas. As a result, health gaps between wealthier and poorer neighborhoods grew larger during the pandemic, showing that COVID‑19 hit disadvantaged communities harder.
Diana Higuera Mendieta
Modification of extreme temperature effects in mortality by individual-level education in Latin American cities
Extreme temperatures are known to increase population mortality. However, few studies have examined whether these effects differ across social groups in highly unequal, highly urbanized contexts. Diana's research presented at DEGS examined this phenomenon within the context of Latin America, which has high levels of both urbanization and urban inequalities, which could serve to magnify the health effects of extreme temperatures due to a variety of factors.
Using data from over 17 million deaths across 269 cities between 2000 and 2022 from the SALURBAL-Climate project, Diana and her coauthors found that extreme temperatures increase the risk of death for everyone, but people with lower levels of education are significantly more vulnerable, especially during extreme cold. What's more, for each degree of temperature change at the extremes, death risk rose more sharply among those with less education than among those with more schooling, with inequalities most pronounced in cold conditions.
Overall, the findings show that temperature-related deaths are socially unequal and highlight the need for targeted heat- and cold-protection policies that focus on the most vulnerable populations in Latin American cities.
Aashna Lal
The Queer Housing Penalty: Inequities in Housing Quality and Affordability for LGBTQ People in the U.S.
Prior research has shown that LGBTQ people in the U.S. are known to face systemic and interpersonal discrimination in the housing market and exhibit dramatically high rates of homelessness. Aashna's research presented at DEGS seeks to address other key dimensions of this phenomenon in an area with little research – whether these housing disparities for LGBTQ people also include housing quality and affordability, and whether these disparities only exist for renters or persist for homeowners as well.
Using data from the 2023 American Housing Survey, Aashna and her coauthors examined whether LGBTQ renters and homeowners experience worse housing conditions or pay more for housing than their cisgender, straight counterparts. Their research found that LGBTQ renters and homeowners are more likely to live in homes with problems like leaks, mold, pests, power outages, or extreme temperatures.
Moreover, despite these poorer conditions, LGBTQ renters were found to not pay less for housing or live in more affordable housing, and LGBTQ homeowners actually pay hundreds more in monthly housing costs and are 27% more likely to struggle to afford their housing compared to cis-straight renters or homeowners.
These findings show that housing inequities for LGBTQ people extend into housing quality and affordability, which can harm their health and well‑being. Policies that improve housing quality overall or directly support LGBTQ people could help reduce these disparities.
Annaka Scheeres
Understanding and addressing heat impacts on mental health in urban youth across the Americas
Climate change impacts urban populations across the Americas through higher temperatures and more frequent heatwaves.
At DEGS, Annaka presented work on a five‑year, multi‑country study that is just starting to examine how rising temperatures and heatwaves linked to climate change affect mental health among urban youth in the Americas, focusing on outcomes beyond severe cases like hospitalizations or suicide.
Annaka and her coauthors are examining young people with at least mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, or psychosis in cities across Canada, Mexico, and Argentina to understand how both outdoor and indoor heat exposure influence mental health over time. The study also aims to investigate how environmental, social, physiological, and biological mechanisms impact the relationship between heat exposure and mental health outcomes, including air pollution, greenspace exposure, neighborhood safety, medication use, physical activity, and sleep.
Since the project, in which the UHC is a partner and is led by the University of Montreal, just began, results are not yet available. However, the findings will inform heat‑adaptation strategies that can be integrated into youth mental health care as climate change intensifies in the future.
Andrea Tristan Urrutia
Gender differences in smoking and hazardous drinking among adults in Latin American cities: Role of economic development
Hazardous alcohol consumption and tobacco use are among the top leading behavioral risk factors contributing to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although men have historically had higher rates of tobacco and alcohol use compared to women, recent evidence suggests these gaps are changing, and little is known about how gender empowerment, equality, and development influence these behaviors in the region.
The research presented by Andrea at DEGS leveraged data from a large and diverse sample of cities in Latin America from the SALURBAL study to first describe how gender gaps in smoking and drinking differ across places with varying levels of development, then analyzes how overall and gender‑specific measures of development are associated with these behaviors for men and women.
Andrea and her coauthors conclude by exploring how these gender differences intersect with individual socioeconomic status, aiming to fill important knowledge gaps and inform more effective, equity‑focused prevention and policy efforts.