Pamela Herd
3454 Sewell Social Sciences
(608) 262-9451
pherd@lafollette.wisc.edu
Alternate Webpage
Curriculum Vitae
Areas of Interest:
Aging, Life Course
Sociology of Medicine
Sociology of the Family
Affiliations:
Center for Demography and Ecology
Center for Demography of Health and Aging
Institute for Research on Poverty
Population Health Sciences
Robert M. LaFollette School of Public Affairs
Sociology
Research Interest Statement:
Pamela Herd’s research focuses on how gender race and class shape the distribution of income in old age and more recently how class (socioeconomic status) shapes the distribution of health. Her work on Social Security demonstrates how the benefit structure is problematic for women because of changing demographic trends related to marriage and employment patterns among women. Her work on health demonstrates how multiple dimensions of individual SES (income, education) are associated with health and health-related quality of life over the life course. More recent work is focused on income, specifically, explores the causal direction between income and health, whether income support policies improve health. She is currently working on a project that examines the mechanisms that link higher education attainment to better health outcomes.