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Heather Orom

Associate Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior
University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Health disparities, illness risk perception

Head shot of Heather Orom, University at Buffalo health disparities expert.

Heather Orom can speak to the media about health disparities — preventable inequities in people’s access to health care and health outcomes — and strategies for eliminating such inequities.

Her first line of research is on the causes of health disparities, which include factors such as unemployment, underdeveloped neighborhoods, absence of grocery stores and poor access to health care, among others. She is interested in how broad social determinants of health such as discrimination influence health outcomes.

Orom has taught Health Disparities, a survey class that focuses on the pattern and causes of health inequities affecting a variety of populations, including people of color, people with low socioeconomic status, sexual minorities and rural populations.

Orom is also an expert on factors that affect people’s perception of their personal risk for developing disease. She has also studied prostate cancer treatment decision-making, and wellbeing in prostate cancer survivorship.

CONTACT:

Heather Orom, PhD
Associate Professor of Community Health and Health Behavior, University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions
Associate Director, University at Buffalo Community Health Equity Research Institute

NEWS ABOUT HEATHER OROM