Center for Global Health Faculty

Assistant Professor

Academic Degrees

• PhD
• ScD

Departmental Affiliation

• Name:

  International Health

  Affiliation Type:

  Primary

  Division:

  Social and Behavioral Interventions

• Name:

  Health, Behavior and Society

  Affiliation Type:

  Joint

• Name:

  Population, Family and Reproductive Health

  Affiliation Type:

  Joint

Departmental Address

Contact Information

Email:

psurkan+jhsph.edu

Phone:

410-502-7396

Fax:

410-502-6733

Research and Professional Experience

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.

Keywords

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

Honors and Awards

• 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)

Selected Publications

Surkan PJ, Poteat T. Relevance of the quality of partner relationships and maternal health to early child wellness. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (in press).

Surkan PJ, Gottlieb BR, McCormick MC, Hunt A, Peterson KE. Impact of a health promotion intervention on maternal depressive symptoms at 15 months postpartum. Maternal Child Health Journal 16(1):139-148, 2012.

Surkan PJ, Kennedy KE, Hurley KM, Black MM. Maternal depression and early childhood growth in developing countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 287:607–615D, 2011.

Surkan PJ, Coutinho AJ, Christiansen K, Dennisuk LA, Suratkar S, Mead E, Sharma S, Gittelsohn J. Healthy food purchasing among African American youth, associations with child gender, adult caregiver characteristics and the home food environment. Public Health Nutrition 14(4) 670-677, 2011.

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 22 (7):803-15, 2010. 

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):2049-56, 2009.

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.