Caitlin Caspi

Caitlin Caspi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut and serves as Associate Director at the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) and Director of Food Security Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health. As a social epidemiologist, her work focuses on evaluating food policies and interventions to address inequities in nutrition and health outcomes.

• Education: ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (2012)
• Previous Affiliation: University of Minnesota’s Department of Family Medicine and Community Health

Her research employs a social-ecological framework to examine food insecurity, diet quality, and weight outcomes through the lens of social determinants of health. Key areas include the U.S. food assistance programs, charitable food systems, and the impact of minimum wage policies on health. She utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, emphasizing community-engaged approaches.

Recent publications analyze food swamps, SNAP online grocery ordering, pandemic-era food distribution, and wage policy impacts on nutrition. Funders include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and HHS Administration for Community Living. Her work spans geographies like Minnesota, Baltimore, and Greater Hartford, focusing on low-income populations.