CV
JESSICA POLOS
Master of Public Health Program
DePaul University
14 E. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
E: jpolos@depaul.edu
EDUCATION
2020 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Predoctoral Trainee, Center for Demography and Ecology and Center for the Demography of Health and Aging, Supported by the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (T32) and the National Institute on Aging (T32)
2010 Master of Public Policy, University of Chicago
2004 B.A., Anthropology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
B.A., International Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Summa cum laude
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2022 – Present Assistant Professor, Master of Public Health Program, DePaul University
2020 – 2022 Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Policy Research (IPR), Northwestern University
PUBLICATIONS
Koning, Stephanie, Jessica Polos, Kiarri Kershaw, and Thomas McDade. 2022. “Racial inequalities in low birth weight among college-educated mothers in the United States: The role of life-course SESD.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Polos, Jessica, Stephanie Koning, and Thomas McDade. 2021. “Do Intersecting Identities Structure Social Contexts to Influence Life Course Health? The Case of School Peer Economic Disadvantage and Obesity.” Social Science & Medicine.
Ophir, Ariane and Jessica Polos. 2021. “Care Life Expectancy: Gender and Unpaid Work in the Context of Population Aging.” Population Research and Policy Review.
Winner of the Best Student Paper Award, Sociology of Population Section, American Sociological Association
Polos, Jessica and Jason Fletcher. 2019. “Caesarean Section and Children’s Health: A Quasi-Experimental Design.” Population Studies.
Fletcher, Jason and Jessica Polos. 2018. “Nonmarital and Teen Fertility.” In The Oxford Handbook of Women and the Economy. Ed. Susan L. Averett, Laura M. Argys, and Saul D. Hoffman: Oxford University Press.
WORKS IN PROGRESS AND IN PREPARATION
Polos, Jessica, Stephanie Koning, Taylor Hargrove, Kiarri Kershaw, and Thomas McDade. “Structural Racism in School Contexts and Adolescent Depression: Development of New Indices for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and Beyond.” (Under Review)
Polos, Jessica. “Consequences of Medical Labels for Mothers and Infants: Structural Stigmatization or Beneficial Treatments?”
Winner of the Best Poster Award, PAA 2021
Polos, Jessica. “Breastfeeding Promotion Programs as Intensive Parenting Treatments: Impacts on Class Convergence in Parenting Style, Child Development, and Maternal Mental Health.”
Polos, Jessica. “Super-Structural Discrimination in the Generation of Health Inequalities.”
PRESENTATIONS
2022 Polos, Jessica and Thomas McDade. “Structural Racism, School Disadvantage, and Adolescent Depression: Development of New Indices for the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) and Beyond.” Institute for Policy Research Colloquium, Northwestern University, Chicago (invited presentation).
2022 Polos, Jessica. “Breastfeeding Promotion Programs as Intensive Parenting Treatments: Impacts on Parenting Style, Child Development, and Maternal Mental Health”. Population Association of America Annual Meeting (virtually held). Poster Presentation.
2021 Polos, Jessica, Stephanie Koning, and Thomas McDade. “Do Intersecting Identities Structure Social Contexts to Influence Life Course Health? The Case of School Peer Economic Disadvantage and Obesity.” IAPHS Annual Meeting (virtually held). Session on Social Relationships: Cohesion, Peers, and Cardiometabolic Risk.
2021 Polos, Jessica, Stephanie Koning, and Thomas McDade. “Do Intersecting Identities Structure Social Contexts to Influence Life Course Health? The Case of School Peer Economic Disadvantage and Obesity.” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting (virtually held). Paper Session on Health, Mortality, and Inequality.
2021 Polos, Jessica. “Consequences of Medical Labels for Mothers and Infants: Structural Stigmatization or Beneficial Treatments?” American Sociological Association Annual Meeting (virtually held). Roundtable Session on Social Construction of Bodies and Health.
2021 Polos, Jessica. “Consequences of Medical Labels for Mothers and Infants: Structural Stigmatization or Beneficial Treatments?” Population Association of America Annual Meeting (virtually held). Poster Presentation.
2021 Polos, Jessica, Stephanie Koning, and Thomas McDade. “Intersecting Identities and Contextual Disadvantage: Paradoxical Implications for Life Course Obesity.” University of Chicago Demography Workshop, Chicago, IL. (invited presentation)
2020 Polos, Jessica. “Feedback Consequences of Spurious Associations of Advantage,” IAPHS Annual Meeting, Online due to Covid-19. (poster presentation)
2020 Polos, Jessica. “Linking Kin Networks and Mortality in the Context of the U.S. Demographic Transition,” Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. (poster presentation; withdrawn due to Covid-19)
2020 Ophir, Ariane and Jessica Polos. “Lifelong Caring: Caregiving across the Life Course in the Context of Population Aging,” CDHA 20th Anniversary Symposium, Madison, WI.
2018 Ophir, Ariane and Jessica Polos. “Lifelong Caring: Caregiving across the Life Course in the Context of Population Aging,” Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Denver, CO.
2016 Polos, Jessica and Jason Fletcher. “Cesarean Section, the Gut Microbiome and Children’s Health: A Quasi-Experimental Design,” Population Association of America Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
2015 Polos, Jessica. “Breastfeeding and the Black-White Education Gap,” Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. (invited presentation)
AWARDS AND GRANTS
2021 Best Poster Award, Population Association of America
2020 Best Student Paper Award, Sociology of Population Section, American Sociological Association
2019 – 2020 National Institute on Aging Traineeship
2015 – 2019 National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Traineeship
2015 – 2016 Graduate Student Fellow, Institute for Research on Poverty
2008 – 2010 University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, Irving B. Harris Fellowship
2004 Phi Beta Kappa
2004 University of Illinois, University/Bronze Tablet Honors
2000 – 2004 University of Illinois, James Honors Scholar
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND MEMBERSHIPS
2020 – Present Member, IAPHS
2020 – Present Mentorship Program, IAPHS
2019 – 2020 Aging, Health, and Place Working Group, UW-Madison
2014 – Present Member, Population Association of America
2018 – 2020 Member, Center for Reproductive Equity, UW-Madison
2014 – 2019 Member, WiscPAL, UW-Madison
2016, 2020, 2021 Member, American Sociological Association
2009 Leadership in Chicago Fellow
SERVICE
2021 American Sociological Association Conference Table Presider
2020 Search Committee, Department of Sociology
2020 Peer Reviewer, Demography, Social Science and Medicine, Social Science and Medicine - Population Health, Child and Youth Services Review, Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
2015, 2017 Mentor, Department of Sociology, UW Madison
RELATED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2010 – 2014 University of Chicago
Founding Associate Director, Energy Policy Institute at Chicago, 2011-2014
International Program Coordinator, 2010-2011
2005 – 2008 Illinois Office of the Comptroller
Policy Analyst, 2006 – 2008
Government Career Trainee, 2005
SKILLS & SPECIAL QUALIFICATIONS
Languages: Spanish (fluent); French (basic)
Statistical Programs: STATA, R
REFERENCES
Jason Fletcher Michal Engelman
Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology Associate Professor of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Wisconsin-Madison
jason.fletcher@wisc.edu mengelman@ssc.wisc.edu
Phone: 608-262-4436 Phone: 608-262-9856
Thomas McDade
Professor of Anthropology
Northwestern University
t-mcdade@northwestern.edu
847-467-4304