Tia M. Palermo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine Division of Evaluative Sciences Graduate Program in Public Health OFFICE: HSC 112B EMAIL: tia.palermo@stonybrookmedicine.edu

Education:

Ph.D., Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, (2009)
M.S., Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2005)
B.A., Economics and Spanish, State University of New York at Geneseo (2002)

Research Interests: 

Maternal and child health, gender-based violence, gender equity, social policy, Africa, Latin America, US  

Research Activities & Projects: 

1. “Estimates of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Population-based estimates and correlates.”
Co-Investigators: Amber Peterman and Caryn Bredenkamp
Description: Despite the alleged magnitude of sexual violence in the DRC, research providing data-based estimates is scarce. We use data from a nationally representative data from women ages 15 to 49 from the 2007 DRC Demographic and Health Survey, in conjunction with official population estimates used by the Ministries of Planning and Health and analyze levels of sexual violence and perform multivariate logistic regressions to analyze correlates of rape and intimate partner sexual violence. Estimates demonstrate that the level of sexual violence is orders of magnitude higher than previously estimated.

2. “Pregnancy, postpartum and time allocation: How does the lifecycle affect women’s labor-intensive activities in rural China, Mexico and Tanzania.”
Co-Investigators: Amber Peterman, ShuWen Ng, and I-Heng Lee
Description: Labor intensive work, such as agricultural subsistence, is often a way of life for women in rural areas of developing countries. This type of work requires physical exertion and may need to be continued through pregnancy and breastfeeding periods, which may result in poor health outcomes for both mother and infant. Using longitudinal data from China, Mexico and Tanzania, we study the relationship of being pregnant or breastfeeding on women’s time allocation.

3. “The impact of the Kenya CT-OVC Program on household spending.”
Co-Investigators: Kenya CT-OVC Evaluation Team
Cash transfers are now a major policy instrument in developing countries. The Kenya Cash Transfer Program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) is the government’s flagship social protection program, reaching over 100,000 households and 230,000 OVC across the country as of mid-2010. The objective of the program is to provide regular cash transfers to families living with OVC to encourage fostering and retention of children and to promote their human capital development. We investigate whether the CT-OVC has changed the preferences of households in terms of their consumption behavior. We compare standard difference-in-differences program effects to ex-ante expected effects given baseline expenditure elasticities. As a result of the program, participating households had significantly higher expenditures than control households on health and significantly less spending on alcohol and tobacco. In further analyses, we find evidence that the program has induced significant changes in preferences for health, transportation and communication, and alcohol and tobacco.
 

Select Publications: 

Palermo T & Dowd JB. (2012). “Childhood obesity and human capital accumulation.” Social Science & Medicine, 75: 1989-1998.

Palermo T (Corresponding Author), Kenya OVC-CT Evaluation Team. (2012). “The impact of the Kenya Cash Transfer Program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children on Household Spending.” Journal of Development Effectiveness, 4(10): 9-37.

Parente V*, Hale L, Palermo T. (2012). “Association between Breast Cancer and Allostatic Load by Race: NHANES 1999-2008.” Psycho-Oncology, Published online ahead of print 31 January 2012.

Dowd JB, Palermo T, Aiello A. (2012). “Family poverty is associated with cytomegalovirus antibody titers in U.S children,” Health Psychology, 31(1): 5-10.

Palermo T & Peterman A. “Undercounting, overcounting, and the longevity of flawed estimates: Statistics on sexual violence in conflict.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 89(11).

Dowd JB, Palermo T, Aiello A. (2011). “Family poverty is associated with cytomegalovirus antibody titers in U.S children,” Health Psychology, e-pub date September 2011.

Peterman A, Palermo T, Bredenkamp C. (2011). “Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Population-based estimates and determinants.” American Journal of Public Health, 101(6).

Campbell P, Handa S, Moroni M, Odongo S, Palermo T. (2010). “Assessing the ‘orphan effect’ in determining development outcomes for children in 11 Eastern and Southern African countries.” Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 5(1): 12-32.

Schiavon R, Collado ME, Troncoso E, Soto Sánchez JE, Otero Zorrilla G, Palermo T. (2010). “Characteristics of private abortion services in Mexico City after Legalization.” Reproductive Health Matters, 18(36): 127–135.

Palermo T, Wilson K, Garcia S, Diaz-Olavarrieta C. (2010). “Public opinions on abortion, women’s roles, and reproductive health issues in Tlaxcala, Mexico.” Salud Publica de Mexico, 52(1): 52-60.

Palermo T, Peterman A. (2009). “Are female orphans at risk for early marriage, sexual debut and teen pregnancy?: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.” Studies in Family Planning, 40(2): 101-112. [Earlier version published as a UNICEF Eastern & Southern Africa Working Paper Series, Nairobi, Kenya].

Diaz-Olavarrieta C, Paz F, Abuabara K, Martinez Ayala HB, Kolstad K, Palermo T. (2007). “Abuse during pregnancy in Mexico City.” International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 97(1): 57-64.

Honors, Awards & Affiliations:

• Member: Population Association of America, 2006-Present
• Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (2011-2012)
  
• American Public Health Association (2008-2009, 2012)
  
• Global Health Council (2006-2012)
• Pre-doctoral Trainee, Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill (2004-2009)
• NICHD Fellowship, Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill (2004-2005)

Links to research on Sexual Violence:

Sexual violence against women in the DRC: Population-based estimates and determinants.
Please click on the following attachments for more information.