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Mariana’s work, at the intersection and public health and urban planning, explores dynamic relationships between place and health. Mariana’s scholarly research investigates how the environment -including built, social, and economic conditions affects health. Reciprocally, she also explores how health shapes socioeconomic outcomes for individuals and communities. Her applied and translational research on the social determinants of health tackles the ways in which urban policy and planning decisions shape health risk factors. In both her scholarly and applied work, Mariana maintains a focus on health disparities, social justice, and environmental sustainability. Methodologically, she uses quantitative approaches, including multilevel modeling, spatial statistics, and latent variable modeling, to better understand place and its affect on health. Prior to joining the EPP faculty, Mariana completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. She holds a Doctorate of Science from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a Master of City Planning from DUSP. Mariana’s professional work experience includes instituting and managing a Public Health Division within Metropolitan Boston’s regional planning agency,designing and overseeing the implementation of municipal-level healthy urban planning strategies, and developing a Health Impact Assessment program at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

Curriculum Vitae
name
Mariana C. Arcaya
office address
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-326
Cambridge, MA 02138
email
phone
617.253.
education
2013
Doctorate of Science, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, MA
Dissertation: Spillover effects of the housing and unemployment crisis on health
Advisor: S V Subramanian
2008
Master of City Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Concentration: Housing, Community, and Economic Development
Advisor: Xavier de Souza Briggs
2003
Bachelor of Arts, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy
Duke University, Durham, NC
academic appointments
2015-present
Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Public Health
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2013-2015
Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
other relevant professional appointments
2013-present
Part-Time Analyst
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Boston, MA
2011-2013
Public Health Division Manager
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Boston, MA
2007-2011
Senior Regional and Public Health Planner
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Boston, MA
fellowships and awards
2015-2018
Charles H. (1951) and Ann E. Spaulding Career Development Chair
2013-2014
Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard School of Public Health
2012
American Public Health Association Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award
2012
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Young Leaders Award, Semi-Finalist
2012
Institute of Quantitative Social Science at Harvard Research support
2011-2012
Graduate Research Fellow, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
2011
Social Change: A Harvard - Manchester Initiative (SCHMi)
2010-2012
Cancer Prevention Pre-Doctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute
2008-2010
Institute to Maximize Student Diversity Graduate Study Award
2008-2009
Member of MIT Society of Presidential Fellows, Provost’s Fellowship
 
Harrison Avenue, Chinatown, Boston, MA | 2013 | Leah Minnies | Boston Magazine
Research

Mariana's research explores dynamic relationships between geographic contexts, particularly neighborhoods, and health. Mariana pursues scholarly and policy-relevant research in two main streams. First, she analyze bi-directional relationships between place and health. This includes exploring how health shapes socioeconomic outcomes for individuals and communities, and estimating how specific contextual exposures affect health. Second, she conduct applied and translational research on the social determinants of health. Methodologically, Mariana focus on the analysis of statistically dependent data, including spatial, longitudinal, social network, and hierarchical data.

Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund

The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and other partners are creating a $30 million private equity fund that will enable the development of mixed-income, mixed-use transit-oriented projects across Massachusetts. The Fund will use a “Quadruple Bottom Line” approach to evaluating projects that includes a consideration of community, environmental, and health impacts in addition to financial returns. One of the Fund’s long-term goals is to enhance current knowledge of the relationship between the built environment and health. We propose launching a longitudinal research study on the Fund’s effects in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH), the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the Harvard School of Public Health Center for Population and Development Studies (HSPH), and other local and national experts.

 
 
 

Health Impact Assessment Program

Our team is conducting a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) on state funding for the Small Business Technical Assistance Program, which provides technical assistance and training grants to assist small businesses located in underserved communities in Massachusetts. Several smaller assessments of criminal justice reform- and immigration- related proposals would serve as the backbone of HIA workshops for public health students, practitioners, and community organizers. Linking natural constituents for HIA at the community-level, researchers eager to inform evidence-based decision-making, and experienced state agency HIA practitioners will help to seed a "bottom-up," sustainable approach for considering health in all policies that can withstand political trends or changes in state leadership.

 
 
 

Measure Development for a Randomized Affordable Housing Experiment in Boston’s Chinatown

Despite ample observational evidence suggesting that insecure and unaffordable housing negatively affects health, experimental studies are lacking. In the spring of 2015, the Asian Community Development Corporation, a non-profit housing developer based in Boston’s Chinatown, will open a housing lottery for low-income applicants seeking affordable rental housing in a 363-unit, mixed income housing development, currently under construction. The lottery will determine placement in 95 units of affordable rental housing units. A later lottery will allocate the opportunity to buy 51 affordable condominiums. The project is currently developing, pilot testing, and translating a baseline health and housing screening tool that Asian Community Development Corporation will administer to housing lottery applicants prior to randomization.

 
 
 

Disparities in Recovery from Hurricane Katrina: NOLA@10

We propose extending three existing cohort studies of Hurricane Katrina survivors to understand the mechanisms by which disasters affect the mental and physical health of vulnerable populations over the long-term. The study takes advantage of prospectively collected, multidimensional pre-disaster baseline data and two waves of geocoded post-disaster surveys. Analyses are designed to investigate how individual- and community-level factors shape recovery trajectories. In addition to its contribution to disaster research, the inclusion of individuals involuntarily displaced to new neighborhoods provides a unique opportunity to explore contextual effects on health.

 
 
 
 
Baltimore, MD | Yepoka Yeebo | Business Insider | 2013
teaching and advising
teaching
2016
2016
2015
Housing Community and Economic Development | Environmental Planning and Policy
Master's Thesis Preparation
11.THG
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2011
Life & Death in the USA
Medicine and Disease in Social Context
Soc190
Harvard University
guest and invited lectures
2015
Dynamic relationships between neighborhoods and health
Insights and Actions

Healthy Places Seminar Series
Harvard School of Public Health
2014
Can poor health sort individuals into poor neighborhoods?
Lessons from Hurricane Katrina
Commissioner’s Brown Bag Series
New York City Department of Health & Mental Hygiene
2014
Roles for Planning in Health Promotion
Health+Planning@DUSP Spring Speakers Series
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning
2014
Post-disaster neighborhoods, networks, and health of Hurricane Katrina Survivors
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Seminar Series
Harvard University
2014, 2013, 2012
Spatial multilevel modeling
Multilevel statistical methods: concept and application (SHH 263)
Harvard School of Public Health
2013
Localized Foreclosure Activity and Weight Gain
Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Seminar Series
Harvard University
2012
Can Community Development Make Cities Healthier? Insights and Action on the Social Determinants of Health
Housing Community and Economic Development Luncheon Lecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Urban Studies and Planning
2011
The Community-Level Effects of Foreclosure
Housing and Community Development (MET UA 503)
Boston University
2010
Data-Driven Regional Planning: Sustainability Indicators
Envisioning Sustainable Cities
Lesley University
advising
Masters of City Planning, MIT
Catie Ferrara
Anticipated | 2016
Tatjana Trebic
Anticipated | 2016
Shin Bin Tan
Anticipated | 2017
 
Hubway Bikes | North Eastern University Student Life | 2012
publications
Journal Articles

Arcaya M, Graif C, Waters MC, Subramanian SV. "Health selection into neighborhoods among Moving to Opportunity families." American Journal of Epidemiology. (In press)

James P, Hart J, Arcaya MC, Feskanich D, Laden F, Subramanian S.V. "Neighborhood Self-Selection: The Role of Pre-Move Health Factors on the Post-Move Built and Socioeconomic Environment." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. (In press)

Yasaitis, L.C., Arcaya, M.C., Subramanian, S.V. "Comparison of estimation methods for creating small area rates of acute myocardial infarction among Medicare beneficiaries in California." Health Place 2015: 35, JHAPD1500246. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.08.003

Arcaya, M.C., Arcaya, A.L., Subramanian, S.V., 2015. "Inequalities in health: definitions, concepts, and theories." Global Health Action 2015: 8.

Arcaya, M, Lowe SR, Rhodes J, Subramanian SV, Waters M. "Association of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms with Asthma Attacks among Hurricane Katrina Survivors." Journal of Traumatic Stress. 2014 Dec; 27(6): 725–729

Arcaya, M, Subramanian SV, Rhodes J, Waters M. "Health as a determinant of neighborhood attainment: An analysis of health selection into neighborhoods following Hurricane Katrina." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2014 Oct 20; 201416950

Kozhimannil K, Arcaya M, Subramanian SV. "Clinical Characteristics Do Not Drive Variation in Hospital Cesarean Delivery Rates: A Retrospective Multi-Level Analysis." PLOS Medicine. 2014 Oct 21;11(10): e1001745.

James P, Ito K, Peterson S, Banay R, Buonocore J, Wood B, Arcaya M. "A Health Impact Assessment of a proposed bill to decrease speed limits on local roads in Massachusetts (U.S.A.)." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014: 11(10), 10269-10291.

James P, Ito K, Peterson S, Buonocore J, Levy J, Arcaya M. "A Health Impact Assessment of proposed public transportation service cuts and fare increases in Boston, Massachusetts (USA)." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014;11(8):8010–24.

James P, Arcaya M, Parker D, Tucker-Seeley R, Subramanian SV. "Do minority and poor neighborhoods have higher access to fast-food restaurants in the United States?" Health & Place. Jun 16;29C:10–7.

Arcaya M, Glymour MM, Chakrabarti P, Christakis NA, Kawachi I, Subramanian SV. "Effects of proximate foreclosed properties on individuals' systolic blood pressure in Massachusetts, 1987-2008." Circulation. 2014 Jun 3;129(22):2262–8.

Arcaya M, James P, Rhodes J, Waters MC, Subramanian SV. "Urban Sprawl and Body Mass Index Among Displaced Hurricane Katrina Survivors." Preventive Medicine. Online. April 13, 2014. DOI 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.04.006

Arcaya M, Glymour MM, Christakis NA, Kawachi I, Subramanian SV. "Individual, Spousal, and Area-Level Unemployment as predictors of smoking and drinking behavior." Social Science & Medicine. 2014. 110, 89-95. DOI 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.034

Calvo R, Arcaya M, Baum C, Lowe SR, Waters MC. "Happy Ever After? A Natural Experiment of the Set-Point Theory of Happiness with Survivors of Hurricane Katrina." Journal of Happiness Studies. 04 March 2014; DOI 10.1007/s10902-014-9516-5

Arcaya M, Reardon T, Vogel J, Andrew B, Wenjun L, Land T. "Tailoring Community-Based Wellness Initiatives with Latent Class Analysis – An Application in the two Massachusetts Community Transformation Grant Projects." Preventing Chronic Disease. 2014 Feb; 11, E21. doi:10.5888/pcd11.130215

Arcaya M, Glymour MM, Chakrabarti P, Christakis NA, Kawachi I, Subramanian SV. "Effects of proximate foreclosed properties on individuals’ weight gain in Massachusetts, 1987-2008." American Journal of Public Health. 2013 Sep;103(9):e50–56.

Cáceres IA, Arcaya M, Declercq E, Belanoff CM, Janakiraman V, Cohen B, Ecker J, Smith L, Subramanian SV. "Hospital Differences in Cesarean Deliveries in Massachusetts (US) 2004–2006: The Case against Case-Mix Artifact." PLOS ONE. 2013 Mar 18;8(3):e57817.

Arcaya M, Brewster M, Zigler C, Subramanian SV. "Area Variations in Health: a Spatial Multilevel Modeling Approach." Journal of Health and Place. 2012 Jul;18(4):824-31

Arcaya M, Briggs X. "Despite obstacles, considerable potential exists for more robust federal policy on community development and health." Health Affairs. 2011 Nov;30(11):2064-71.

Book Chapters

Arcaya M, Subramanian SV. “Ecological inferences and multilevel studies” in The Handbook of Regional Science. Fischer M and Congdon P (Eds). Springer Science, Heidelberg. 2014.

Professional Publications

James P, Ito K, Arcaya M. Massachusetts Speed Limit Bill, Health Impact Assessment. Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. October, 2012.

Molina J, Ito K, James P, Arcaya M. Quequechan River Rail Trail Phase 2, Health Impact Assessment. Metropolitan Area Planning Council and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. October, 2012.

James P, Bounocore J, Levy J, Arcaya M. A Healthy T for a Healthy Region: A Health Impact Assessment of Proposed MBTA Service Cuts and Fare Increases. Metropolitan Area Planning Council, March 14, 2012. http://www.mapc.org/resources/health-impact-assessment

Chakrabarti P, Arcaya M. New Ideas for Old REOs: A Disposition Framework for Marketing REOs for Rental Properties. New England Community Developments, 2012(1).

Arcaya M, Grogan J. The State of Equity in MetroBoston. Metropolitan Area Planning Council, December 13, 2011. www.regionalindicators.org/equity

Raitt, J and Arcaya, M. Foreclosure: Community Impacts, Prevention, and Stabilization Strategies. PAS Memo. September/October 2010

Kruckenberg, K., Small, J., Tegeler, P., and Arcaya, M. Connecting Families to Opportunity: a Resource Guide for Housing Choice Voucher Program Administrators. Poverty and Race Research Action Council. July 2009. http://www.prrac.org/pdf/connectingfamilies.pdf