My main research objective is to study how social determinants influence health. My interests are largely cross-disciplinary. They focus on examining interactions between social conditions and other factors that impact health, such as dietary behaviors and environmental exposures. To date, much of my work has been about the role of maternal mental health, social support and familial environment on early growth and childhood development. International collaborations have included work in Brazil, Sweden, Haiti, and Mexico.

Social conditions, social support, social justice, mental health, child growth and development, child cognition, international health

Fulbright Grant to Colombia, US State Department - Institute of International Education (1994-1995)

David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Term-time Research Grant to Brazil (1999)

Frederick Sheldon Fellowship to Brazil, Harvard University (2000-2001)

Thord-Gray Memorial Fellowship to Sweden, American Scandinavian Foundation (2002-2003)

Surkan PJ, Mukherjee JS, Williams DR, Eustache E, Louis E, Jean-Paul T, Lambert W, Scanlan FC, Oswald CM, Smith Fawzi MC. Perceived discrimination and stigma towards children affected by HIV/AIDS and their HIV-positive caregivers in central Haiti. Aids Care (in press).

Surkan PJ, O’Donnell EM, Berkman LF, Peterson KE. Social ties in relation to health status of low-income Brazilian women. Journal of Women’s Health 18 (12) (in press).

Surkan PJ, Kawachi I, Peterson KE. Maternal depressive symptoms and child overweight. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62(5): e11, 2008.

Surkan PJ, Rådestad I, Cnattingius S, Steineck G, Dickman PW. Events following a stillbirth in relation to maternal depressive symptoms. Birth 35(2):153-157, 2008.

Surkan PJ, Steineck G, Kriecbergs U. Perceptions of a mental health questionnaire: The ethics of using population-based controls. Journal of Medical Ethics 34(7):545-547, 2008.

Surkan PJ, Schnaas L, Wright RJ, Téllez-Rojo MM, Lamadrid-Figueroa H, Hu H, Hernández-Avila M, Bellinger DC, Schwartz J, Perroni E, Wright RO. Maternal self-esteem, exposure to lead, and child neurodevelopment. Neurotoxicology 29(2):278-85, 2008.

Surkan PJ, Kawachi I, Ryan LM, Berkman LF, Vieira LM, Peterson KE. Maternal depressive symptoms, parenting self-efficacy and child growth. American Journal of Public Health 98(1):125-132, 2008.

Surkan PJ, Zhang A, Trachtenberg F, Daniel D, McKinlay S, Bellinger DC. Neuropsychological function in children with blood lead levels < 10µg/dL. Neurotoxicology 28(6):1170-1177, 2007.

Surkan PJ, Ryan LM, Vieira LM, Berkman LF, Peterson KE. Maternal social and psychological conditions and physical growth in low-income children in Piauí, Northeast Brazil. Social Science and Medicine 64(2): 375-388, 2007.

Surkan PJ, Dickman PW, Steineck G, Onelöv E, Kreicbergs U. Home care of a child dying of a malignancy and parental awareness of a child’s impending death. Palliative Medicine 20(3): 161-169, 2006.

Surkan PJ, Peterson KE, Hughes MD, Gottlieb BR. The role of social networks and support in maternal women’s depression: A multiethnic urban sample. Maternal Child Health Journal 10(4):1-9, 2006.

Surkan PJ, Ryan LM, Bidwell HW, Brooks DR, Peterson KE, Gillman MW. Psychosocial correlates of leisure-time physical activity in working-class adults. Journal of Physical Activity and Health 2(4):395-409, 2005.

Surkan PJ, Stephansson O, Dickman, PW, Cnattingius S. Previous preterm and small-for-gestational births and subsequent risk of stillbirth. New England Journal of Medicine 350(8): 777-785, 2004.

Surkan PJ, Hsieh CC, Johansson AL, Dickman PW, Cnattingius S. Reasons for increasing trends in large for gestational age births. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 104(4):720-6, 2004.