Natasha Lee-Johnson

Natasha Lee-Johnson earned her PhD in Social Work from Louisiana State University, where her mixed-methods dissertation, “‘I Don’t Want No Body to Henrietta Lacks Me,’” examined perceived risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and health decision-making among Black women in Louisiana. Her dissertation was funded by the RWJF Health Policy Research Scholars Dissertation Award and the AAUW American Dissertation Fellowship. She also holds a Master of Social Work from LSU, a Master of Education from the University of Georgia, and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Louisiana State University.

Natasha’s research centers on structural conditions that contribute to reproductive health disparities and the strategies that Black women employ to navigate and circumvent them. Further,  she is interested in how racialized economic segregation, and environmental exposures contribute to reproductive and cardiovascular health outcomes. Natasha is working with Dr. Catherine Cubbin to examine neighborhood-level structural determinants of reproductive and cardiovascular health outcomes. In addition, her previous work has focused on disaster mental health through community-based participatory research, examining how community-partnered interventions can strengthen disaster resilience and buffer the long-term health effects of chronic disaster-related stress.