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Epidemiology
Epidemiology & Social Sciences
Kristen Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS

Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS

Professor, Division of Epidemiology; Director, PhD Program in Public & Community Health; Co-Director, Global Health Pathway; Co-Director, GEO Shared Resource; Adjunct Associate Professor, Geography, UW-Milwaukee

Contact Information

Education

BA, Integrated International Studies, Knox College
MPH, Global Health, University of Iowa
PhD, Geography, University of Iowa
MS, CTSI Epidemiology Track, MCW

Biography

Dr. Kirsten Beyer is a professor in the Division of Epidemiology & Social Sciences in the Institute for Health & Humanity at MCW. She is director of the PhD Program in Public and Community Health, co-director of the Global Health Scholarly Concentration for medical students, and co-director of the Geospatial, Epidemiology and Outcomes Shared Resource (GEOSR) of the MCW Cancer Center. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment in geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Dr. Beyer received her PhD in geography and her MPH in global health from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She joined MCW in 2009 as an instructor and a fellow in the Primary Care Research Fellowship. During her postdoctoral work, she earned a master’s degree in clinical and translational science, with a focus on epidemiology.

Trained as a health geographer, Dr. Beyer focuses on the intersection of health, place, and social and environmental justice. She seeks to identify environmental and systemic causes of health disparities and to apply a community engaged research framework to move research findings into program and policy solutions to achieve health equity. She studies neighborhood characteristics such as green space, racial segregation, redlining and housing, as well as innovative community driven solutions to address challenges such as climate change and structural racism. She works locally and globally with a focus on non-communicable diseases, with established partnerships in Milwaukee, WI and Africa. She also partners with research groups across the country to examine influences of structural racism on a range of health outcomes using large cohort study databases. Her work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and National Science Foundation.

Dr. Beyer mentors doctoral, masters, medical, and undergraduate students at MCW and elsewhere and teaches in the PhD program in Public and Community Health and the MS Program in Global Health Equity at MCW. She has been recognized for her accomplishments with the MCW President’s Community Engagement Award, the Milwaukee Biz Times Researcher of the Year award, and the Emerging Scholar award from the American Association of Geographers Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group.
In her free time, Dr. Beyer spends time with her family, outdoors, enjoying music and art, and traveling.

Honors and Awards

2016, Emerging Scholar Award, Health and Medical Geography Specialty Group, American Association of Geographers

Research Experience

  • Community Medicine
  • epidemiology
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Geography
  • Health Behavior
  • Maps
  • Participatory research
  • Residence Characteristics
  • Social Change
  • Social Justice
  • Spatial Behavior
  • Violence

Methodologies and Techniques

  • Cluster Analysis
  • Epidemiologic Measurements
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Models, Statistical

Research Interests

GETOutside
Researching increased time outdoors and reduced symptom burdens of breast cancer survivors

Breast Cancer, Race, and Place
Researching the effects breast cancer from women living in Milwaukee and it's surrounding counties

Publications

Publications of Kirsten M. Beyer PhD, MPH from the Faculty Collaboration Database

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