Associate Chair for Recruitment and Searches
Dr. Pearson is a Professor in the Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health at Michigan State University and an Adjunct Fellow in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago. She completed her PhD in Geography and MPH in Global Health at the University of Washington, a MSc at Western Washington University and BA at University of North Texas. Prior to joining MSU, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and then a Research Fellow at the University of Otago.
Dr. Pearson is a health geographer with a focus on the intersections between spatial and social features of neighborhoods. Specifically, her research relates to aspects of the neighborhood built, physical and social environment that may bolster opportunities for a healthy life, often in the face of socioeconomic adversity. Her overall research goal is to improve health and well-being while paying careful attention to health inequalities.
Her work has been funded by NIH, NSF, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, American Association of Geographers, New Zealand (NZ) Ministry of Health, NZ Health Research Council, Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, MSU’s Clinical and Translational Science Initiative, Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies, Undergraduate Research Initiative and the Water Science Network. Her research has been featured in many media outlets including the Washington Post, the Guardian, and the BBC. In 2017, she was awarded Undergraduate Mentor of the Year from MSU. In 2018, she was awarded the Emerging Scholar in Health/Medical Geography from the American Association of Geographers.