Faculty Directory
Summer Sherburne Hawkins
Associate Professor
Summer Sherburne Hawkins
Ph.D.
Contact
McGuinn Hall 210
Telephone: 617-552-0945
Email: summer.hawkins@bc.edu
Education
- B.A., Vassar College
- M.S., Drexel University
- Ph.D., University of London
Research Interests
Social Epidemiology; Policy Evaluation; Health Disparities; Tobacco Use; Infant Feeding
Expertise
- Disparities
- Maternal and Child Health
- Social Service Policies and Practice Effectiveness
In the News
Boston College Magazine: Where there's smoke
National Institutes of Health: Do cigarette taxes and smoke-free legislation reduce teen smoking?
Department
Profile
Associate Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins, PhD, MS, joined the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) faculty in 2012. She is a social epidemiologist with an interest in addressing policy-relevant research questions in maternal and child health. Her research examines the impact of policies on health disparities in parents and children, particularly using methodology that integrates epidemiology and economics. Dr. Hawkins has published on the topics of parental and adolescent tobacco use, infant feeding practices, and childhood obesity as well as the impact of state and local policies on disparities in these health behaviors and outcomes. A more recent area of her research focuses on the role of the Affordable Care Act on the uptake of preventive health services. In January 2017, she received a 3-year grant from the American Cancer Society titled, Impact of the ACA on the prevention and early detection of women’s cancers.
Dr. Hawkins is currently on the editorial board of Maternal and Child Nutrition and an active member of the University Research Council at Boston College. Prior to joining BCSSW, Dr. Hawkins was a Cohort 7 Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health from 2009-2011.
Select Publications
Hawkins SS, Noble A, Baum CF. Invited commentary: Policy evaluation with incomplete data: Assessing the ACA breastfeeding provision. American Journal of Public Health 2018;108(2):164-166. PMID: 29320288.
Hawkins SS, Bach N, Baum CF. Impact of tobacco control policies on adolescent smokeless tobacco and cigar use: a difference-in-differences approach. BMC Public Health 2018;18(1):154. PMID: 29444658.
Hawkins SS, Noble A, Baum CF. Could the Affordable Care Act increase disparities in breastfeeding? American Journal of Public Health 2017;107(7):1119-1121. PMID: 2850483.
Hawkins SS, Hristakeva S, Gottlieb M, Baum CF. Reduction in emergency department visits for children’s asthma, ear infections, and respiratory infections after the introduction of state smoke-free legislation. Preventive Medicine 2016;89:278-285. PMID: 27283094.
Hawkins SS, Baum CF. Invited commentary: An interdisciplinary approach for policy evaluation. American Journal of Epidemiology 2016;183(6):539-541. PMID: 26946396.
Hawkins SS, Stern AD, Baum CF, Gillman MW. Evaluating the impact of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative on breastfeeding rates: a multi-state analysis. Public Health Nutrition 2015; 18(2):189-197. PMID: 24625787.
Hawkins SS, Dow-Fleisner S, Noble A. Breastfeeding and the Affordable Care Act. Pediatric Clinics of North America 2015;62(5):1071-1091. PMID: 26318941.
Hawkins SS, Baum CF, Oken E, Gillman MW. Associations of tobacco control policies with birth outcomes. JAMA Pediatrics 2014;168(11):e142365. PMID: 25365250.
Hawkins SS, Baum CF. Impact of state cigarette taxes on disparities in maternal smoking during pregnancy. American Journal of Public Health 2014;104(8):1464-1470. PMID: 24922149.
Hawkins SS, Gillman MW, Shafer EF, Cohen BB. Acculturation and maternal health behaviors: findings from the Massachusetts birth certificate. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2014;47(2):150-159. PMID: 24951043.