David Abramson

Clinical Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. David Abramson is a Clinical Associate Professor at NYU’s School of Global Public Health and the director of the research program on Population Impact, Recovery and Resilience (PiR2).  His research employs a social ecological framework to examine the health consequences of disasters, individual and community resilience, and long-term recovery from acute collective stressors. His work has focused on population health consequences, interactions of complex systems, and risk communication strategies associated with hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the Joplin tornado, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, H1N1, and Zika, among other natural, technological, and man-made disasters.  Before joining NYU’s faculty, Dr. Abramson was the Deputy Director at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute.

In 2005 Dr. Abramson launched the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health study, an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of over 1,000 randomly sampled Katrina survivors in Louisiana and Mississippi, which is presently a core research project in the NIH-funded Katrina@10 Program (P01HD082032, NICHD).  After Superstorm Sandy he partnered with colleagues at Rutgers University, Columbia University, and the University of Colorado to conduct the Sandy Child and Family Health study, an observational cohort study modeled on the Katrina study. More recently, he was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to study the risk salience of an evolving threat, the Zika virus, among the US population in general and among women of child-bearing age.  In addition, Dr. Abramson serves on two National Academies of Medicine panels, the Standing Committee on Medical and Public Health Research During Large-Scale Emergency Events, and the Committee on Evidence-Based Practices for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Prior to entering the field of public health, Dr. Abramson spent a decade as a national magazine journalist, having worked at or written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Outside magazines, and was a nationally-certified paramedic.  He has a PhD in sociomedical sciences, with a sub-specialization in political science, and an MPH, both from Columbia University.

Education

BA, English (High Honors), Queens College, New York, NY

MPH, Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY

PhD, Sociomedical Sciences/Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY

Honors and awards

Columbia University Alumni Association Scholarship (2003)

Eugene Litwak Prize for best doctoral dissertation proposal, Mailman School of Public Health (2002)

Columbia University School of Public Health Alumni Association Scholarship Award (1982)

Nyack Hospital Paramedic Program Valedictorian (1989)

Areas of research and study

Community Health

Disaster Health

Disaster Impact and Recovery

Environmental Impact

Population Health

Public Health Systems

Social Behaviors

Social Determinants of Health

Publications

Publications

Children as bellwethers of recovery: Dysfunctional systems and the effects of parents, households, and neighborhoods on serious emotional disturbance in children after Hurricane Katrina

Emergency response and public health in Hurricane Katrina: What does it mean to be a public health emergency responder?

Experiences of Public health workers in responding to Hurricane Katrina: Voices from the storm

Moon-Howard, J., VanDevanter, N., Abramson, D., Leviss, P., & Honoré, P. A. (n.d.).

Publication year

2010

Journal title

Journal of Public Health Management and Practice

Measuring individual disaster recovery: A socioecological framework

Recovery research, Katrina's fifth anniversary, and lessons relearned

Lessons from Katrina – What Went Wrong, What Was Learned, Who’s Most Vulnerable

Analyzing postdisaster surveillance data: The effect of the statistical method

Prevalence and predictors of mental health distress post-katrina: Findings from the gulf coast child and family health study

Children and Megadisasters: Lessons Learned in the New Millennium

Housing need, housing assistance, and connection to HIV medical care

Patient satisfaction with different interpreting methods: A randomized controlled trial

Public health disaster research: surveying the field, defining its future.

HIV-positive men sexually active with women: Sexual behaviors and sexual risks

Antiretroviral therapy and declining AIDS mortality in New York City

Antiretroviral therapy and declining AIDS mortality in New York City

The impact of ancillary HIV services on engagement in medical care in New York City

Passing the Test: New York’s Newborn HIV Testing Policy, 1987-1997

The Pocket Guide to Cases of Medicine & Public Health Collaboration

Medicine & Public Health: the Power of Collaboration

A balancing act: The tension between case-finding and primary prevention strategies in New York State's voluntary HIV counseling and testing program in women's health care settings

Recruiting Rare and Hard-to- reach Populations: A Sampling Strategy for Surveying NYC Residents Living with HIV/AIDS doi