Alison M Buttenheim, PhD, MBA
Assistant Professor A
Contact Information
University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
Room 235 Fagin Hall
418 Curie Blvd.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4217
UNITED STATES
tel: (215) 573-5314
email: abutt@nursing.upenn.edu
Dr. Alison Buttenheim received her BA from Yale University, her MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and her PhD degree in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Office of Population Research, Princeton University and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.
Two core questions motivate Dr. Buttenheim's interdisciplinary research agenda on global maternal-child health: (1) How can we change parent behavior to improve child health? (2) Do maternal-child health interventions work? Addressing "last mile" problems in maternal-child health requires that we understand how health behavior decisions are made within households, and how socioeconomic and cultural contexts both condition and constrain those decisions. Dr. Buttenheim also practices and promotes rigorous impact evaluation to inform investments in maternal-child health programs.
Teaching
Dr. Buttenheim co-teaches "Introduction to Public Health" (NURS 570/PUBH500), a core course for the MPH program and an excellent introduction to the theories and practice of public health for clinicians and nurse scientists. The course introduces the core disciplines of public health in a dynamic, hands-on syllabus. "We want students to understand health from a population perspective, and to recognize how to apply the public health toolkit to a wide range of health challenges in the community." The course includes several global health topics and case studies.
Research
Dr. Buttenheim's current research focus is the use of behavioral economic principles (including financial incentives and intrinsic rewards) to encourage behavior change and takeup of preventive care services in the area of maternal-child health.
• Currently Funded Grants
Clinical Practice
A recognized evaluation expert, Dr. Buttenheim has consulted on several impact evaluation studies in international settings. Recent studies include village midwife and microfinance programs in Indonesia, school feeding schemes in Laos, and improved sanitation in Bangladesh. A particular focus of her evaluation practice has been new methods for evaluating post-disaster relief and recovery programs.
Honors/Credentials
Dr. Buttenheim was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania (2009-2011) and received a training fellowship in demography from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the University of California, Los Angeles (2004-2007). She is an active member of the Food and Nutrition and International Health sections of the American Public Health Association, and an ad hoc reviewer for several top journals in the fields of public health, global health, demography, and development studies.
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