Luke Smith

MPC Population Studies Alumni
Associated Projects
Research Interests

Climate change and public health; Healthcare access and health disparity

Biography

I joined the MPC in the summer before I began my work as an MPH student at the University of Minnesota. Currently I'm working on the Minnesota Population Database which hopes to link birthrecords accross generations to study demographic questions, and to connect birth records to health records to add new paths of inquiry in health research.  My work involves lit reviews, probalistic linkage methods for linking births, and investigation of research questions using the completed data set.  In prior years at the MPC, I worked on the FDA projects, specifically National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), as well as assisting on Terra Populus project through Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP).

I am a Population Studies Trainee and an Epidemiology PHD student. My main area of research is in studying the effects of climate driven exposures on populations. I hope to further the research into the economic burden at a population level, and measure any health disparities that are associated with these exposures and outcomes.