Meredith Slopen

Meredith Slopen is an Assistant Professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare, with a Postdoctoral Scholar affiliation at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality (2023–2025). Her work bridges social work, public health, and economics to investigate labor policies as tools for reducing inequality through health and economic security.

• Education:
  • Hon. B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Toronto
  • MSW in Social Welfare Policy, Columbia University School of Social Work
  • Ph.D. in Social Policy and Policy Analysis, Columbia University (2023)

Her research focuses on the workplace as a social determinant of health, particularly analyzing paid leave and sick leave policies. She examines how these policies affect maternal well-being, older worker employment, and family economic stability, often using interdisciplinary methods.

Recent publications highlight her expertise in state-level labor policy evaluation, including paid sick leave mandates (New York, Seattle) and paid parental leave expansions. These works demonstrate her emphasis on policy mechanisms that address lifecourse inequality and labor transitions.

Grants supporting her work include funding from the Center for Financial Security, Washington Center for Equitable Growth, and the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau. She contributes to population health research through policy analysis frameworks.