Denise Zabkiewicz

Assistant Professor

Biography: 

Dr. Zabkiewicz is a social epidemiologist from the University of California at Berkeley.  Having been mentored by leaders in psychiatric and social epidemiology, medical sociology, social welfare, and health economics, she has acquired a strong orientation and appreciation towards the broader context in which health problems are embedded.  Her interests focus more generally on how social, economic, and policy related factors are intertwined within the broad structural environment and how they interact to influence individual health and the factors that contribute to the onset or continuity of poor health.

Research Interests: 

More specifically, her research has examined issues of employment and mental health within the context of US welfare reform policy and a rapidly changing labor market.  This research was motivated by her long time collaboration on the Welfare Client Longitudinal Study where she developed a passionate interest in reducing socio-economic inequalities and the mental health problems that are often over-represented among disadvantaged populations.

Teaching Interests: 

Dr. Zabkiewicz is fully versed in longitudinal survey fieldwork, sampling, questionnaire development, interviewing and tracking.  She is also knowledgeable in the areas of event history analyses and methods utilizing repeated measures.  Her teaching interests include epidemiologic methods, quantitative analyses, epidemiology from a historical perspective and measurement issues surrounding psychiatric and alcohol problems.  

Publications and Activities