Shannon Monnat

Shannon Monnat is the Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion, Professor of Sociology, and Co-Director of the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She also serves as Director of the Center for Policy Research, Faculty Affiliate at the Aging Studies Institute, and Research Affiliate at the Center for Aging and Policy Studies. Additionally, she is a Fellow at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire.

Dr. Monnat received her PhD in Sociology from the State University of New York at Albany in 2008. Her research focuses on rural demography and population health, examining trends and geographic differences in health and mortality with a special interest in rural health disparities. She is a leading national expert on structural and spatial determinants of drug overdose and other deaths of despair.

Her research interests center on the intersection of place, public policy, and health, with particular emphasis on rural populations. Monnat investigates geographic variations in health outcomes, mortality patterns, and the social determinants of health disparities. Her recent work has focused on opioid abuse, deaths of despair, and the differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic across rural and urban communities.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals consistent focus on geographic health disparities, particularly rural-urban differences in mortality, substance abuse, and mental health outcomes. Her work often examines how policy contexts shape health outcomes, with significant attention to the impacts of state-level policies on working-age adult mortality, drug overdoses, and suicide rates. She employs sophisticated spatial and demographic methods to understand the complex interplay between social, economic, and geographic factors in population health.

• Frederick H. Buttel Outstanding Scholarly Achievement Award, Rural Sociological Society (2025)
• Chancellor's Citation for Excellence - Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction, Syracuse University (2023)
• Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award, Syracuse University (2022)

Monnat has secured over $12 million in external funding as PI or co-PI from prestigious sources including NIH, National Institute of Justice, USDA, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Institute for New Economic Thinking. Current projects include a NIDA-funded study examining how state COVID-19 mitigation policies affect psychological wellbeing, drug overdose, and suicide, and an NIA-funded project investigating geographic disparities in midlife mortality. She regularly presents her research to academic, policy, and public audiences including the United Nations, National Academy of Sciences, and Congressional briefings.

She co-directs the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab, which brings together interdisciplinary researchers to examine how social, economic, and political contexts shape health and wellbeing across different places. The lab focuses particularly on rural communities and vulnerable populations, working to translate research findings into actionable policy recommendations.