Lorraine T. Dean, ScD, is a social epidemiologist who examines how privilege and disadvantage influence chronic disease, and teaches an award-winning course on the topic.

Lorraine researches how individual- and neighborhood-level social and economic factors contribute to health disparities and health outcomes for those managing chronic disease. Methodologically her focus is on using multi-level modeling, GIS, and propensity scores to explore how healthcare system distrust, residential segregation, social capital, and other macro-level contextual factors influence health disparities and individual survivorship outcomes for those with chronic disease. Lorraine has been PI an NIH F31 and K01 to explore social determinants of breast cancer screening and survivorship outcomes, PI on a Fulbright Grant to explore women’s perceptions of self-breast exams in Venezuela, and PI on two NIH R21s on economic barriers to HIV PrEP use.

Prior to her time in academia, Lorraine led a $13 million tobacco policy and control initiative in Philadelphia, PA. This policy role has had lasting impact on the City of Philadelphia, resulting in 40,000 fewer smokers and permanent legislative changes affecting 1.5 million Philadelphians. Through that policy work, her efforts have had impact by moving the needle toward better health for populations. Lorraine brings a multi-disciplinary research approach, setting forth a new path to explore how social factors shape life for survivors of chronic disease.