Alisa Lincoln, Ph.D.
Professor of Health Sciences and Sociology and Director, Institute of Urban Health Research and Practice, Northeastern University | Faculty Affiliate, Global Resilience Institute
Boston, MA, UNITED STATES
Professor Lincoin focuses on public health as it relates to mental health, substance abuse and socioeconomic status.
Biography
Professor Lincoim's research includes public health, mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, health and social disparities, literacy, community-based participatory action research
Areas of Expertise (6)
Resilience and Recovery
Social Consequences of Illness
Public Mental Health
Mental Health and Mental Healthcare Disparities
Social Determinants of Health
Stigma and Discrimination
Education (3)
Columbia University: Ph.D., Sociomedical Sciences 1998
Boston University: M.P.H., Social and Behavioral Sciences 1992
Tufts University: B.A, International Relations & Sociology 1990
Affiliations (13)
- Chair-Elect, Mental Health Section, American Sociological Association (2017-)
- Elected Fellow, New York Academy of Medicine (2015-)
- Elected Fellow, American Psychopathological Association (2015-)
- Member, Social and Behavioral Sciences Forum, Association of Schools of Public Health (2015-)
- Member, Community Advisory Board, PCORI Project, Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research, Cambridge Health Alliance (2014-)
- Expert Advisory Panel, Spotlight on Mental Health, Boston University School of Public Health (2014-2016)
- Expert Advisory Panel Member, Blue Cross Blue Shield Community Health Mapping Project (2008-2009)
- Scientific Advisory Committee to the New York State Office of Mental Health, Center for the Study of Recovery in Context (2007-2012)
- Member, American Public Health Association, Mental Health Section (2000-)
- Member, American Sociological Association, Sections on Sociology of Mental Illness and Medical Sociology (1997-)
- Adjunct Professor BU School of Public Health and Division of Psychiatry, BU School of Medicine/ BMC
- BU School of Public Health and Division of Psychiatry
- BU School of Medicine/BMC
Links (1)
Media Appearances (3)
Early Life Stress, Neighborhood Conditions Contribute to Dementia
News @ Northeastern
2017-07-27
This news is distressing, but not surprising, says Northeastern medical sociologist Alisa Lincoln. As a professor of Health Sciences and Sociology and director of the Institute of Urban Health Research and Practice, Lincoln has seen mountains of evidence linking socioeconomic status with mental health. Here, we get her take on the implications of these findings and what can be done about them...
Mentorship comes full circle for USC leader
USC News
2014-11-11
Alisa Lincoln, an associate professor of health sciences and sociology at Northeastern University, is inspired by her mentor’s commitment, passion and humanity, which she channeled for her own work with the seriously mentally ill, establishing the Dudley Inn, Boston’s first Safe Haven shelter. “With Dr. Amaro’s guidance, I was able to work with state mental health officials to ensure the shelter would be sustained once grant funding had ended,” Lincoln said, adding that the transitional housing program is often cited as a catalyst for the expansion of Housing First services in the city...
Mental Illness and Limited Literacy
News @ Northeastern
2012-10-05
Approximately 47 percent of the U.S. population reads below an eighth-grade level, but the percentage is significantly greater among people using public mental-health services, according to Alisa Lincoln, an associate professor of sociology and health sciences at Northeastern University. In spite of this statistic, as well as a growing body of literature on the impact of reading ability on general health outcomes, scant research is available on the impact of limited literacy on mental health. Lincoln, the interim director of Northeastern’s Institute for Urban Health Research, hopes to change that. She recently received a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to explore the connection between literacy and mental health...
Articles (5)
The Double Stigma of Limited Literacy and Mental Illness: Examining Barriers to Recovery and Participation among Public Mental Health Service Users
Society and Mental Health
Alisa K. Lincolin, Wallis Adams, Mara Eyllon...
2017 The disadvantaged social position of public mental health service users reflects synergistic relationships among tangible disadvantage and stigma and its consequences. Limited literacy, an important factor in social disadvantage and an additional source of stigma, is virtually absent from the discussion. Employing a mixed-methods, service user–informed design, we explore the meaning and impact of limited literacy in the lives of public mental health service users in the United States. Of 267 participants, 184 (69 percent) read at or below an eighth-grade level...
Assessing the Individual, Neighborhood, and Policy Predictors of Disparities in Mental Health Care
US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
BL Cook, SH Zuvekas, J Chen, A Progovac, and AK Lincoln
2017 This study assesses individual- and area-level predictors of racial/ethnic disparities in mental health care episodes for adults with psychiatric illness. Multilevel regression models are estimated using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys linked to area-level datasets. Compared to whites, Blacks and Latinos lived in neighborhoods with higher minority density, lower average education, and greater specialist mental health provider density, all of which predicted less mental health care initiation...
Relation of psychosocial factors to diverse behaviors and attitudes among Somali refugees.
US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health
Ellis BH, Abdi SM, Lazarevic V, White MT, Lincoln AK, Stern JE, Horgan JG.
2015 Refugee studies have examined both resilience and adverse outcomes, but no research has examined how different outcomes co-occur or are distinct, and the social-contextual factors that give rise to these diverse outcomes. The current study begins to address this gap by using latent profile analysis to examine the ways in which delinquency, gang involvement, civic engagement, political engagement, and openness to violent extremism cluster among Somali refugees. We then use multivariable regression analyses to examine how adversity (e.g., discrimination, trauma, and marginalization) is associated with the identified latent classes...
Discrimination and Mental Health Among Somali Refugee Adolescents: The Role of Acculturation and Gender
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry
B. Heidi Ellis Helen Z. MacDonald Julie Klunk‐Gillis Alisa Lincoln Lee Strunin Howard J. Cabral
2010 This study examines the role of social identity (acculturation and gender) in moderating the association between discrimination and Somali adolescent refugees’ mental health. Participants were English‐speaking Somali adolescent refugees between the ages of 11 and 20 (N = 135). Perceived discrimination, trauma history, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depressive symptoms, and behavioral acculturation were assessed in structured interviews. Fourteen in‐depth qualitative interviews and 3 focus groups were also conducted. Results indicated that discrimination was common and associated with worse mental health. For girls, greater Somali acculturation was associated with better mental health. Also, the association between discrimination and PTSD was less strong for girls who showed higher levels of Somali acculturation. For boys, greater American acculturation was associated with better mental health, and the association between discrimination and depression was less strong for boys with higher levels of American acculturation.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Completed Suicide
American Journal of Epidemiology
Jaimie L. Gradus, Ping Qin, Alisa K. Lincoln, Matthew Miller, Elizabeth Lawler, Henrik Toft Sørensen, Timothy L. Lash
2010 Most research regarding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide has focused on suicidal ideation or attempts; no known study of the association between PTSD and completed suicide in a population-based sample has been reported. This study examined the association between PTSD and completed suicide in a population-based sample. Data were obtained from the nationwide Danish health and administrative registries, which include data on all 5.4 million residents of Denmark. All suicides between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 2006, were included, and controls were selected from a sample of all Danish residents. Using this nested case-control design, the authors examined 9,612 suicide cases and 199,306 controls matched to cases on gender, date of birth, and time. Thirty-eight suicide cases (0.40%) and 95 controls (0.05%) were diagnosed with PTSD. The odds ratio associating PTSD with suicide was 9.8 (95% confidence interval: 6.7, 15). The association between PTSD and completed suicide remained after controlling for psychiatric and demographic confounders (odds ratio = 5.3, 95% confidence interval: 3.4, 8.1). Additionally, persons with PTSD and depression had a greater rate of suicide than expected based on their independent effects. In conclusion, a registry-based diagnosis of PTSD based on International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, is a risk factor for completed suicide.