Claire Slesinski

Research

Project Title

Self-rated health among German national cohort study (NAKO) participants:
The influence of socioeconomic status and neighborhood built and physical environments on levels of and inequities in self-rated health

Research Interest

My research interests emerged from a focus on wholistic health as defined by the World Health Organization. A population free from “disease and infirmity” but lacking “complete physical, mental and social well-being,” is not healthy, according to the WHO.

Scholars over several decades have documented how self-rated health (SRH) is an important and reliable indicator of current health status, overall wellbeing, and quality life, while also being a predictor of mortality especially among older populations.

My research will examine levels of and inequities in SRH across NAKO study participants and sites. By combining NAKO data with built and physical environment data for these sites, the study will investigate whether neighborhood greenness, green landscape, proximity to parks, noise levels, air quality, and walkability have a relationship with levels of SRH. I will also assess whether any effect of socioeconomic status on SRH is modified by neighborhood built and physical environments.

The findings from this study will inform municipal planning and policy efforts, and efforts to reduce health inequities, as well as future cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of NAKO data.

 

Supervisors

Prof. Dr. Annette Peters
Dr. Alexandra Schneider

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION
2022 – Present: PhD Candidate in Medical Research: Epidemiology & Public Health, LMU Munich, Germany
2020 – 2021: Graduate Certificate in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, USA
2016: Certificate in Business Spanish, University of Wisconsin - Madison
2010 – 2012: MSPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA
2004 – 2008: BA (Magna cum laude), St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA

WORK EXPERIENCE:
2017 – 2022: Senior Program Manager for Global Urban Health, Drexel Urban Health Collaborative, USA
2014 – 2017: Program Officer, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, USA
2012 – 2014: Health Communications Fellow, National Vaccine Program Office, US Department of Health and Human Services, USA
2011 – 2012: Health Programs Fellow, “Yo quiero, yo puedo,” Mexico City, Mexico
2008 – 2010: Governance Program Assistant, American Educational Research Association, USA

PUBLICATIONS

S. Claire Slesinski, Andrea Cortínez-O’Ryan, Katherine Indvik, Mónica Mazariegos, Lídia Maria de Oliveira Morais, Dèsirée Vidaña Pérez, Health in All Urban Policies: Evidence from Latin American Cities In: Inclusive Cities: Healthy Cities for All. Edited by: Nora Libertun de Duren, Inter-American Development Bank (2022).

Guevara-Aladino, P., Baldovino-Chiquillo, L., Rubio, M.A., S. Claire Slesinski, Levy, P., Flórez, D., Flórez, S. and Sarmiento, O.L., 2022. Winds of change: the case of TransMiCable, a community-engaged transport intervention improving equity and health in Bogotá, Colombia. Cities & Health, pp.1-9.

Baeza, F., Vives Vergara, A., González, F., Orlando, L., Valdebenito, R., Cortinez-O’Ryan, A., S. Claire Slesinski, and Diez Roux, A.V., 2021. The Regeneración Urbana, Calidad de Vida y Salud-RUCAS project: a Chilean multi-methods study to evaluate the impact of urban regeneration on resident health and wellbeing. BMC public health, 21(1), pp.1-15.

Diez Roux, A.V., Barrientos-Gutierrez, T., Caiaffa, W.T., Miranda, J.J., Rodriguez, D., Sarmiento, O.L., S. Claire Slesinski, and Vergara, A.V., 2021. Urban health and health equity in Latin American cities: what COVID-19 is teaching us. Cities & health, 5(sup1), pp.S140-S144.

Jennifer Kolker, S. Claire Slesinski, Amy Carroll-Scott, and Jonathan Purtle, Dissemination of Urban Health Research to Maximize Impact In: Urban Public Health. Edited by: Gina S. Lovasi, Ana V. Diez Roux, and Jennifer Kolker, Oxford University Press (2021).

Langellier, B.A., Kuhlberg, J.A., Ballard, E.A., S. Claire Slesinski, Stankov, I., Gouveia, N., Meisel, J.D., Kroker-Lobos, M.F., Sarmiento, O.L., Caiaffa, W.T. and Roux, A.V.D., 2019. Using community-based system dynamics modeling to understand the complex systems that influence health in cities: The SALURBAL study. Health & Place, 60, p.102215.

S. Claire Slesinski, Adriana C. Lein, Ana V. Diez Roux, Waleska T. Caiaffa, Urban Policies and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean In: Handbook of Global Urban Health. Edited by: Igor Vojnovic, Amber Pearson, Gershim Asiki, Geoff DeVerteuil, Adriana Allen, Routledge (2019).

Diez Roux, A.V., S. Claire Slesinski, Alazraqui, M., Caiaffa, W.T., Frenz, P., Jordán Fuchs, R., Miranda, J.J., Rodriguez, D.A., Dueñas, O.L.S., Siri, J. and Vergara, A.V., 2019. A novel international partnership for actionable evidence on urban health in Latin America: LAC‐urban health and SALURBAL. Global Challenges, 3(4), p.1800013.