
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
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
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
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
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(Do Couto N, Hidde M, Grigoriadis G, Sparapani R, Durand M, Widlansky M, Jankowski C, Berendt M, Canales B, Golus S, Norwood Toro LE, Laud P, Kong A, Hoskins K, Lewandowski D, Phillips SA, Gutterman DD, Kriegel AJ, Beyer KMM, Beyer AM, Stolley M.) Cardiooncology. 2025 Aug 21;11(1):75 PMID: 40841694 PMCID: PMC12369258 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105014033548 08/22/2025
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(Bikomeye JC, McGinley EL, Zhou Y, Tarima S, Kwarteng JL, Beyer AM, Yen TWF, Winn AN, Beyer KMM.) JACC Adv. 2025 Aug 18;4(9):102069 PMID: 40829368 PMCID: PMC12396096 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105013235004 08/20/2025
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(Dickson-Gomez J, Beyer K, Kiconco A, Anguzu R, Nyabigambo A.) BMC Public Health. 2025 Jul 16;25(1):2475 PMID: 40671035 PMCID: PMC12265136 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105010729742 07/17/2025
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(Bikomeye JC, Tarima S, Zhou Y, Kwarteng JL, Beyer AM, Yen TWF, Winn AN, Beyer KMM.) Health Place. 2025 May;93:103460 PMID: 40187121 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105001825932 04/06/2025
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(Lawrence WR, Freedman ND, McGee-Avila JK, Hong HG, Gomez SL, Loehrer AP, Beyer KMM, Zhou Y, Magnani JW, Neighbors HW, Johnson JA, Lin Z, Davidoff AJ, Llanos AAM, Shiels MS.) Cancer. 2025 Apr 15;131(8):e35850 PMID: 40233138 PMCID: PMC12001745 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105002708265 04/15/2025
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(Beltrán Ponce S, Canales B, McGinley EL, Yen TWF, Tarima S, Zhou Y, Bikomeye JC, Beyer KMM.) Adv Radiat Oncol. 2025 Feb;10(2):101688 PMID: 39844831 PMCID: PMC11751514 01/23/2025
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Epidemiology of Xylazine-Positive Fatal Overdoses in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 2019-2023.
(Mantych M, Laibly C, Russell H, Beyer KMM, Zhou Y, Anguzu R.) WMJ. 2025;124(2):148-152 PMID: 40690635 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-105011842714 07/21/2025
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A comparison of traumatic injury characteristics in rural and urban adults living in Wisconsin.
(Kallies KJ, Koehne WJ, Tomas CW, Tarima S, Beckman MA, Beyer KM, Cassidy L.) J Rural Health. 2025 Jan;41(1):e2922 PMID: 39910720 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85217032660 02/06/2025
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(Beltrán Ponce S, Canales B, McGinley EL, Yen TWF, Tarima S, Zhou Y, Bikomeye JC, Beyer KMM.) Advances in Radiation Oncology. February 2025;10(2) SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85214202142 02/01/2025
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(Kiconco A, Kabanda R, Ronald A, Beyer KMM, John SA.) BMC Womens Health. 2024 Dec 21;24(1):659 PMID: 39709406 PMCID: PMC11662838 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85212916382 12/22/2024
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(Halada S, Beyer KM, Zhou Y, Weston BW.) J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2024 Dec;33(12):108093 PMID: 39461451 PMCID: PMC11570335 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85208216709 10/27/2024
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The Legacy of Redlining and the Geography of Tobacco Retailers in Wisconsin.
(Namin S, Zhou Y, Anyanwu C, Walker S, Beyer K.) WMJ. 2024 Nov;123(5):350-355 PMID: 39509619 SCOPUS ID: 2-s2.0-85209164468 11/13/2024