Summer Sherburne Hawkins

Summer Sherburne Hawkins is a Professor at the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW), serving as Associate Director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good and Assistant Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of London, with prior roles including Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at Harvard. Her research focuses on social epidemiology and policy evaluation, particularly addressing health disparities in women and children through applied econometric analyses of policy impacts. Key areas include tobacco control, maternal morbidity, breastfeeding policies, and the Affordable Care Act's effects.

Education:

• B.A., Vassar College
• M.S., Drexel University
• Ph.D., University of London

Research Interests:

• Social Epidemiology of health policies
• Health disparities in reproductive and child health
• Tobacco and cannabis policy evaluations
• Impact of ACA on breastfeeding and contraception access

Publications Trends: Recent work examines flavor restrictions' effects on youth tobacco use, recreational cannabis legalization's impact on adolescent substance use, and policy effects on maternal morbidity. Methodologically, combines epidemiological and economic approaches to analyze natural experiments from state policy changes.

Awards:

• K99/R00 Career Development Award (NIH, 2011-2016)

Grants & Roles:

• PI: Study on prenatal substance use laws and cannabis legalization (2024)
• Co-I: Research on abortion restrictions' effects on maternal outcomes (2024)
• Co-chair: SACRU Working Group 6 on Gender Equity

Labs/Teams: Leads interdisciplinary teams at BC's Global Public Health Program and Child/Family Policy Center, collaborating with institutions like King's College London (Visiting Associate Professor, 2018-2019).