Dr. Schatz is a sociologist and demographer whose work focuses on public health problems. She is an expert on the social and structural impacts of HIV on older Africans’ lives. Her work in southern and eastern Africa has improved our understanding of the experiences of older persons living with HIV, and those living in HIV-endemic communities, in navigating family dynamics, health and wellbeing. Dr. Schatz is a faculty member in the Department of Public Health and Women’s & Gender Studies and is currently the Associate Dean of the University of Missouri Graduate School.

Current position

• Associate Dean, Graduate School
• Professor, Department of Public Health
• Core Faculty, Department of Women’s & Gender Studies
• Faculty Fellow, Middleton Center for Race, Citizenship & Justice, University of Missouri
• Faculty Affiliate, Department of Sociology, University of Missouri
• Honorary Senior Researcher, School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand
• Research Associate, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Coach/Individual Coach, National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Educational Background

• Fulbright Scholar, University of Western Cape, South Africa, 2017
• Wits Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellow – University of the Witwatersrand, 2003-04
• Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow – University of Colorado, Boulder (resident at Wits), 2002-04
• Ph.D. – University of Pennsylvania, Demography/Sociology, 2002
• M.A. – University of Pennsylvania, Demography, 1999
• B.A. – Tufts University, Judaic Studies/Women’s Studies, 1995

Classes taught

• Preparing Future Faculty Seminar
• Global Public Health Evaluation
• Public Health Capstone
• Gender & Public Health
• Global Public Health (online)
• Graduate Feminist Methods & Methodologies
• Public Health: Principles & Practice
• Public Health: Principles & Practice (Honors)
• Sixteen & Pregnant: Teen Pregnancy & Parenting
• Women’s Empowerment
• Women’s & Gender Studies Senior Capstone Seminar

Research Interests

• IDE & mentorship in higher education
• Gender
• Aging & Health
• HIV/AIDS
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods

Active Grants

• INSPIRES Program: INtegrated Social and behavioral training to imProve Implementation Research Effectiveness and Sustainability. Fogarty International Center for the Advanced Study in the Health Sciences [3D43TW011308-05S1]. PI-Colvin; Schatz, Training Advisory Council (0% effort). Grant period 09/18/2023-03/31/2024. Amount awarded (direct+indirect); $100,000.
• An exploration of intersecting stigma and its impact among older people living with HIV in South Africa: formative research for the design of an intervention to improve health outcomes. Brown University Center for AIDS Research. PI-Knight, Schatz, co-I (0% effort). Grant period 06/01/2023-05/31/2024. Amount awarded: $25,000.
• Transforming the University of Missouri for Equity: Positioning Social Justice as a Metric of Public Health Success. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. PI-Teti & Schatz co-PI (15% effort). Grant period: 03/15/22-09/14/23 (no cost extension through 12/31/2023). Amount awarded (direct+indirect): $300,000.

Recently Completed Grants

• HIV after 40 in Rural South Africa: Aging in the Context of an HIV/AIDS Epidemic [01 AG049634]. National Institutes of Health-National Institute of Aging PI: Mojola (Princeton University) Role: Consultant. Award Amount: $1,301,144. Grant Period: 09/30/2016-03/31/2021.
• HIV Testing and Risk History Calendar: Digital Application Development. MU Research Council. PI: Schatz (0% effort). Grant period: 5/31/2021-12/31/2022. Amount awarded: $10,000.
• Tracking Protective Immunity among Individuals Vaccinated against SARS-CoV2/CoVID-19. SIEMENS Healthineers. PI: Daniels, Schatz co-I (1.5% effort). Grant period: 05/15/2021-05/14/2022.
• University of Missouri Sero-positivity & Risk Study. SIEMENS Healthineers and MU CARES funding. Co-PI: Schatz (0% effort). Grant Period: 8/15/2020–08/31/2021. Award amount: $555,000.

Selected Publications

• Houle B, Clark SJ, Kabudula C, Gómez-Olivé FX, Angotti N, Schatz E, Tilstra AM, Mojola SA & Menken J. 2023. The effects of HIV and systolic blood pressure on mortality risk in rural South Africa, 2010–2019: a data note. BMC Research Notes, 16(213). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-023-06478-w
• Teti M, Myroniuk TW, Kirksey G, Pratt M & Schatz E. 2023. Using peer-ethnography to explore the health and well-being of college students affected by COVID-19. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17482631.2023.2261841
• Myroniuk T, Teti M, David I & Schatz E. 2023. How Midwestern College Students Protected Their Families in the First Year of COVID-19. Frontiers in Public Health-Public Health Education and Promotion, 11, 1143342. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1143342
• David I, Schatz E, Angotti N, Myroniuk T & Mojola SM. 2023. “I’m getting life from the treatment”: Perceptions of life and death among middle-aged and older medication-adherent persons living with HIV in rural South Africa. Journal of Aging & Social Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959420.2023.2195348 [online first]
• David I, Schatz E, Myroniuk T & Teti M. 2022. “COVID Is Another Layer of Problematic Things”: Change, Vulnerability, and COVID-19 among University Students. International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health. 19(23), 15947. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192315947