Kristina Wharton joined the Prevention Research Center as a postdoctoral fellow in the Prevention Science Research Training Program in 2020. Her research interests are focused on the intersection of local, state and federal policies and environmental contexts impacting substance use, mental and physical health of special and vulnerable populations.
Prior to joining PRC, her work and research centered on issues of access to primary care and behavioral health services in safety net settings for marginalized communities including sexual and gender minorities, people experiencing homelessness, rural populations, and immigrant communities in the US, with particular interest in the wellbeing of youth and young people. She uses qualitative, mixed-methods, multi-level modeling, and policy evaluation methods including difference-in-differences models to investigate these issues.
Kristina received her PhD in Health Policy and Management from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 2020, MPH in Maternal and Child Health from UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health in 2015, and MPA from North Carolina State University in 2011.
