Rick Sadler
Assistant Professor, Division of Public Health | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Urban geographer and expert on public health issues in relation to geography/mapping.
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Biography
Richard (Rick) Sadler is an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine who engages in Flint public health research through the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Division of Public Health.
Sadler can speak to urban food deserts and how certain neighborhood characteristics affect health and an area's ability to thrive.
A Flint native, his research is aimed at strengthening the understanding between the built environment and health behaviors/outcomes, with the goal of shaping land use policy to build healthier cities. His work is integrated with community organizations and uses qualitative and spatial analysis to address disparities in the social determinants of health.
According to Sadler, his experiences growing up in the Flint region, where industrial growth, subsequent deindustrialization and fragmented planning practices have had a profound influence on the built form of the city, has shaped his drive to resolve inequalities that have developed from imbalances in urban areas.
Industry Expertise (3)
Education/Learning
Health and Wellness
Research
Areas of Expertise (5)
Salutogenic and Pathogenic Properties of Urban Areas
Environment and Health Behaviors/Outcomes
Qualitative Analytics
Spatial Analysis
Social Determinants of Health
Education (2)
University of Michigan - Flint: B.Sc., Environmental Science & Planning 2008
High Honors
The University of Western, Ontario: Ph.D., Urban Geography 2013
Pass with Distinction
Affiliations (6)
- Lincoln Park United Methodist Church
- Crim Fitness Foundation
- Flint Community Clean-Ups
- American Association of Geographers
- Friends of Greater Flint Michigan
- Research, Methodology, and Statistics in the Social Sciences
Links (1)
News (5)
MSU study uncovers culprits behind Flint water crisis
MSU Today online
2016-12-07
Many believe the events leading to the lead poisoning of Flint’s drinking water began in April 2014, when it started drawing from the Flint River. Others believe it began in November 2011, when Gov. Rick Snyder appointed an emergency manager to take control of Flint’s government. While those actions were immediate and important factors in the crisis, Richard Sadler, an assistant professor of public health and co-author of a new Michigan State University study, has found that in order to understand its real genesis, one must go back decades and examine a series of governmental, social and economic policies that led to the city’s decline and ultimately to the contamination.
Parents influence junk food purchases among school kids
MSU Today
2016-09-07
The study, co-led by MSU College of Human Medicine public health researcher Rick Sadler, used GPS technology to track how often and how long 654 students between the ages of 9 and 13 were exposed to fast-food restaurants and convenience stores during their school commutes in the London, Ontario area. Students were also given diaries to record their purchases...
Areas in need get a food market on wheels
MSU Today
2016-07-07
Rick Sadler, who earlier this year published a study showing the positive effects of moving the Flint Farmers’ Market downtown, is now helping the market, along with a mom-and-pop grocery store and other organic farms, identify the best locations to serve in order to take their fruits and veggies on the road...
Feeding a city with better food sources
MSU Today online
2016-02-17
Since 2008, Michigan State University public health expert, Rick Sadler, has been mapping out areas of the city that have had almost no access to healthier food options and evaluating solutions that could help remedy the problem. The Flint native’s most recent study, published in the journal Applied Geography, has found that simply changing the location of a farmers’ market to downtown Flint has brought cascading positive effects to residents of the area. “The market has not only been good for the local economy, but for reaching people with challenges in accessing healthier food,” said Sadler, who is also an assistant professor in the College of Human Medicine. “That’s important because farmers’ markets are often perceived as being elitist, only benefiting a certain class of folks. Our local market has proven differently and represents a good cross section of the community.”
MSU scientists change direction of Flint’s water crisis
Michigan State University (Research@MSU) online
The data were alarming: an increasing number of Flint, Mich., children had dangerously high lead levels in their blood, yet Mona Hanna-Attisha (above, left), MD, an assistant professor in Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, could not persuade state officials that they faced a serious public health crisis. Her analysis was wrong, some insisted, and the city’s water was safe to drink. Hanna-Attisha, director of the pediatric residency at Hurley Children’s Hospital, turned to Rick Sadler (above, right), PhD, an urban geographer specializing in analyzing how a community’s human-built environment affects health. The two had met months earlier after Sadler joined the college’s Division of Public Health. Could he geocode blood samples from Hurley Children’s Hospital, Hanna-Attisha asked, and determine if she was correct that the children of Flint were being poisoned by the city’s water?
Journal Articles (4)
Abstract 16023: Bystander CPR is Clustered and Associated With Socioeconomic Characteristics: A Geospatial Analysis of Kent County, Michigan
Circulation2016 Geographic clustering of bystander CPR (bCPR) has been demonstrated in several US cities. Some have also found an association between bCPR and socioeconomic characteristics of communities in which OHCA occurred. We linked geocoded OHCA cases to census data in order to identify community socioeconomic features associated with bCPR.
Theoretical issues in the ‘food desert’ debate and ways forward
Michigan State University2015 Food is essential to life—yet the spatial and economic configuration of the conventional food system does not meet nutritional needs and exacerbates issues of food insecurity. Relevant options for policy change have been explored in light of evaluations of geographic disparities in food access, but the dominant ‘food desert’ discourse often focuses uncritically on insufficient conceptions of access. Understanding the complexity of food deserts is important for moving into meaningful policy action. We present a theoretical position to inspire future empirical research. The ecological model recognizes both endogenous and built environment factors in shaping health. Interventions in the food environment, however, often concentrate exclusively on structural determinants of health (e.g. retail-based initiatives). Yet retail-based interventions are difficult to implement due to governance systems which limit the ability of government bodies to influence private retail development. As well, recognizing the complexity of debates over the influence of structure and agency, we apply structuration theory to food deserts. Behavioral economics further informs both structural and behavioral determinants of health. This approach sidesteps the issue of victim-blaming, as all consumers are viewed as ‘predictably irrational’ in decision-making. In combining these theories, we challenge methodological and theoretical assumptions by showing the complexity of food desert interventions. Policy recommendations focus on behavioral determinants of health and the opportunities for empowerment through local food systems. These recommendations recognize the limits of translating research into policy and in devising effective food based interventions, and are sensitive to social, economic, and political constraints uncovered throughout the paper.
Using GPS and activity tracking to reveal the influence of adolescents’ food environment exposure on junk food purchasing
Human Environments Analysis Laboratory (HEAL)2016 This study examines the influence of adolescents’ exposure to unhealthy food outlets on junk food purchasing during trips between home and school, with particular attention to how exposure and purchasing differ according to child’s biological sex, mode of transportation, and direction to or from school.
Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated With the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response
American Public Health Association (AJPH)2015 We analyzed differences in pediatric elevated blood lead level incidence before and after Flint, Michigan, introduced a more corrosive water source into an aging water system without adequate corrosion control.
