Mari Armstrong-Hough

Scroll

Associate Professor of Social & Behavioral Sciences and Epidemiology

Dr. Mari Armstrong-Hough is Associate Professor in the Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences and in the Department of Epidemiology. She is a medical sociologist and epidemiologist of respiratory disease.

Dr. Armstrong-Hough’s global health research examines the epidemiologic interfaces among tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and non-communicable diseases. Combining training in epidemiology and sociology, her work develops and evaluates interventions to increase early case-finding, status awareness, and linkage to care in high-burden settings like Uganda and South Africa. She has published on predictors of evaluation for TB among high-risk groups, novel approaches to active case-finding for TB and HIV, the ways that providers and patients imagine and communicate risk for respiratory infection, and the availability of essential medicines in settings with double burdens of infectious and non-communicable disease. Her first book, Biomedicalization and the Practice of Culture: Globalization and Type 2 Diabetes in the United States and Japan (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), examined how the practice and experience of global evidence-based medicine is shaped by local cultural repertoires. Her recent work has appeared in the Journal of AIDS, International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, and the The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. She also co-directs the NIH-funded Mixed-Methods Fellowship of the Pulmonary Complications of AIDS Research Training Program at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. She is PI of a prospective cohort study of patients initiating treatment for pulmonary TB in Uganda and a co-investigator on NIH-funded studies of contact tracing for TB.

Dr. Armstrong-Hough’s US-based research examines racial and ethnic disparities in survival of respiratory failure and seeks to develop interventions to ensure that all patients with respiratory failure receive evidence-based care. Approximately 750,000 Americans die each year from respiratory failure, and its 2.5 million survivors experience poor physical function and quality of life persisting five years after discharge. Minority patients are significantly less likely to survive respiratory failure, with up to twice the odds of death as non-Hispanic White patients. Dr. Armstrong-Hough co-PIs the Promoting Equity via Changes In Practice for Respiratory Failure (PRECIPICE) studies, which use large-scale, multicenter data from US ICUs to identify care processes associated with inequities in survival and long-term outcomes. Early work related to these studies has been accepted to Annals of the American Thoracic Society.

Before coming to NYU, Dr. Armstrong-Hough was an Associate Research Scientist in Epidemiology in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at Yale School of Public Health. She previously taught at Davidson College, Meiji University in Tokyo, and Duke University. She has conducted fieldwork in the United States, Japan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Nepal and is a recipient of the Robert E. Leet and Clara Guthrie Patterson Trust Mentored Research Award in Clinical, Health Services and Policy Research.

Education

BA, Sociology, History, and Political Science, University of Wisconsin–Madison

MA, East Asian Studies, Duke University

PhD, Sociology, Duke University

Postdoctoral MPH, Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Yale

Publications

Validation of a parallel scale to measure perceived HIV and TB stigma in households

Armstrong-Hough, M., Shelby, T., Ggita, J., Nangendo, J., Davis, J. L., & Katamba, A. (n.d.).

Abstract

Abstract

Variation in the availability and cost of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases in Uganda : A descriptive time series analysis

Armstrong-Hough, M., Sharma, S., Kishore, S. P., Akiteng, A. R., & Schwartz, J. I. (n.d.).

Publication year

2020

Journal title

PloS one

Volume

Issue

10.1371/journal.pone.0241555

Abstract

Abstract

Background: Availability of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is poor in lowand middle-income countries. Availability and cost are conventionally assessed using cross-sectional data. However, these characteristics may vary over time. Methods: We carried out a prospective, descriptive analysis of the availability and cost of essential medicines in 23 Ugandan health facilities over a five-week period. We surveyed facility pharmacies in-person up to five times, recording availability and cost of 19 essential medicines for NCDs and four essential medicines for communicable diseases. Results: Availability of medicines varied substantially over time, especially among public facilities. Among private-for-profit facilities, the cost of the same medicine varied from week to week. Private-not-for-profit facilities experienced less dramatic fluctuations in price. Conclusions: We conclude that there is a need for standardized, continuous monitoring to better characterize the availability and cost of essential medicines, understand demand for these medicines, and reduce uncertainty for patients.

Variation in the availability and cost of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases in Uganda: A descriptive time series analysis

Armstrong-Hough, M., Armstrong-Hough, M., Sharma, S., Kishore, S. P., Akiteng, A. R., & Schwartz, J. I. (n.d.).

Publication year

2020

Journal title

PloS one

Volume

Issue

Page(s)

e0241555

Abstract

Abstract

Availability of essential medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is poor in low- and middle-income countries. Availability and cost are conventionally assessed using cross-sectional data. However, these characteristics may vary over time.

“Re-norming of HIV testing in TB contact investigation: a randomized controlled trial”

Armstrong-Hough, M. (n.d.).

Publication year

2023

Abstract

Abstract