Justin White, PhD

Justin White, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at Boston University School of Public Health. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF School of Medicine. Dr. White is a health economist who conducts research to evaluate the effects of interventions and policies on behavioral risk factors for chronic disease and related health outcomes in underserved populations. Much of his recent work has focused on tobacco use and nutrition. In one stream of research, Dr. White applies quasi-experimental econometric techniques to evaluate the effects of social and economic policies on mitigating chronic disease risk. Recent and ongoing evaluation projects focus on: taxation of unhealthy products, cash and food assistance programs, and poverty alleviation programs. In a second stream, he designs and implements incentive-based interventions to change health behavior among low-income groups, evaluated through randomized trials and informed by insights from the field of behavioral economics. Recent and ongoing interventional studies focus on: smoking cessation and prevention, diet, and oral health.

Dr. White holds a PhD in health policy and a concurrent MA in economics from UC Berkeley and an MSPH in health policy from UNC Chapel Hill. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease prevention at Stanford University's Prevention Research Center.