David Abramson

David Abramson

David Abramson

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Clinical Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. David Abramson is a Clinical 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

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

Abramson, D., Messeri, P., Aidala, A. A., Healton, C., Jessop, D., & Jetter, D. (n.d.).

Publication year

1995

Journal title

Journal of the American Statistical Association
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Summary Tables for Client Survey. The First Cases. : C.H.A.I.N. Technical Report #4

Healton, C., Messeri, P., Aidala, A. A., & Abramson, D. (n.d.).

Publication year

1995
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Summary Tables for Client Survey: The First 100 Cases : Community health AIDS Information Network Technical Report #7

Messeri, P., Healton, C., Aidala, A. A., & Abramson, D. (n.d.).

Publication year

1995
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An HIV Counseling and Testing in New York State Family Planning and Prenatal Care Assistance Programs

Healton, C., Moon-Howard, J., Abramson, D., & Bayer, R. (n.d.).

Publication year

1993
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Adverse Effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Amid Cumulative Disasters: A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences of Children and Families

Abramson, D., Meltzer, G. Y., Merdjanoff, A. A., Gershon, R. R., Fothergill, A., Peek, L., & Abramson, D. M. (n.d.).

Journal title

JOURNAL OF CHILD AND FAMILY STUDIES
Abstract
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COVID-19 Vaccine Information Seeking Patterns and Vaccine Hesitancy: A Latent Class Analysis to Inform Practice

Abramson, D., Piltch-Loeb, R., Silver, D., Kim, Y., & Abramson, D. (n.d.).

Journal title

JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH MANAGEMENT AND PRACTICE
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One year later: What role did trust in public officials and the medical profession play in decisions to get a booster and to overcome vaccine hesitancy?

Abramson, D., Silver, D., Kim, Y., Piltch-Loeb, R., & Abramson, D. (n.d.).

Journal title

PREVENTIVE MEDICINE REPORTS
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The influence of risk perception on disaster recovery: A case study of new Jersey families impacted by hurricane sandy

Abramson, D., Lynch, K. A., Abramson, D. M., & Merdjanoff, A. A. (n.d.).

Journal title

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
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Contact

david.abramson@nyu.edu 708 Broadway New York, NY, 10003
NYU School of Global Public Health
708 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

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