News

DUPRI Director Giovanna Merli and Associate Director Scott Lynch and joined PAA Advocacy Day. Population scientists from 28 states and the District of Columbia met with their congressional delegations to inform them about important population research advances and issues facing the field of demography and demographic data. DUPRI joined Carolina Population Center colleagues to form the North Carolina delegation who met with staff from the offices of Sen. Ted Budd, Sen. Thom Tillis, Rep. Valerie Foushee, and Rep. Gregory Murphy.

The 2nd Annual Population Ecology, Aging, and Health Network (PEcAHN) Meeting was held at Duke on May 1 & 2, 2025. The meeting had 24 attendees from 13 long-term projects join together for the workshop. Attendees gave updates on the work they are doing in population health and aging in rural communities in the US and abroad. The group discussed a large comparative cross-site paper examining the predictors of inflammation and cardiometabolic health within and across populations. Participants then worked together to develop common, shared protocols for measuring physical activity and urbanicity - two critically important determinants of health that are notoriously difficult to measure and compare across populations. The protocols developed will be useful for moving the field of population health forward, particularly for rural populations.

In a recent paper published in the journal Health Economics, Norma B. Coe, Chuxuan Sun, Courtney Van Houtven, Anirban Basu, R. Tamara Konetzka examine the outcomes of long-term home-based care, and if the specific provider of care makes a difference in the health of the recipient.

NextGenPop is an undergraduate pipeline program in population research that aims to increase the diversity of the population field and nurture the next generation of population scientists. It is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (R25 HD105602). In June 2024, DUPRI hosted the the 3rd NextGenPop cohort of 21 fellows from 19 universities across the nation for a 2-week, in-person, on-campus summer experience. The fellows also received funding to attend the Population Association of America (PAA) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC from April 10-13. This unique opportunity allowed the fellows to meet population scientists, attend panels, and learn about career paths available to them. Half the fellows had their own original work accepted and presented posters throughout the weekend. Below we summarize their work.

America has a complex history on migration and the role immigrants play in economic development. In the Sanford School’s Policy 360 podcast, Hannah Postel discusses the cycles of migrations, deportations and legal restrictions that mark that history.

M. Kate Bundorf, J. Alexander McMahon Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management and DUPRI Scholar, has been awarded a prestigious research grant from the National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation.

From interviewing developers to following people desperate for housing, Ph.D. student Warren Lowell is immersed in housing policy. In a Sanford School podcast, Lowell shares what he’s learned about the obstacles and solutions to addressing housing challenges.

Every year, scholars and students from DUPRI present research papers, prepare professional posters, and serve as panel discussants at Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America. This year's PAA Annual Meeting will take place in Washington, DC from April 10-13. Below is a list of all DUPRI scholars and students participating in PAA sessions. You can also download the list of sessions here.

Duke University PhD student Isabella Bouklas is driven by a commitment to uncover the structures shaping inequality in our world. Through her research on structural racism, health disparities, and spatial inequality, she is asking the hard questions that matter. Her dedication to these issues has earned her two prestigious fellowships: The von der Heyden Global Fellowship from the John Hope Franklin Center and The Summer Research Fellowship for Research on Racism and Inequities from Duke's Graduate School.