Department of Sociology

Jennifer Malat

Associate Professor & Research Director, Kunz Center for Social Research
1010 Crosley Tower
513-556-4709
jennifer.malat@uc.edu

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Education

PhD, University of Michigan, 2000.

Professional Summary

Jennifer Malat received her BS in sociology from the University of Minnesota and her PhD from the University of Michigan. She has been at the University of Cincinnati since 2000. In addition her position in the Sociology Department, Malat is a Scholar at the University of Cincinnati&39;s Institute for the Study of Health.

Research Interests

Jennifer Malat, PhD is associate professor of sociology and Director of Research for the Kunz Center for Social Research. Jennifer received her PhD in sociology from the University of Michigan. Her research has primarily focused on how race affects doctor-patient encounters in ways that reduce health care quality. Her recent research has also examined how social forces affect the health of whites, blacks, and Latinos. Malat has published articles in leading social science journals, such as Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Ethnic and Racial Studies as well as medical and public health journals, such as American Journal of Public Health, Public Health Reports, and Ethnicity & Disease.

Research Support

Faculty Release Fellowship for additional quarter of release during academic leave, Spring 2008, University of Cincinnati, Taft Research Center. Date: 2008.

Summer Research Support, Taft Memorial Fund, University of Cincinnati. Date: 2005.

Cost Sharing Grant for teaching release time to write grant proposal in the Fall of 2005, University of Cincinnati. , Taft Memorial Fund. Date: 2005.

(Co-PI) with E. Donovan and M. Eckman, Perceptions of cultural competence—children, parents, and adults, Dean’s Discovery Funds, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. $35,000. Date: 11-2003 to 10-2004.

(PI) Patients’ racial attitudes and perceptions of clinicians, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. $99,987. Date: 09-2003 to 06-2005.

(PI) with Hyun Joo Oh, The effects of family and neighborhood poverty on child health, National Poverty Center, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. $19,222. Date: 07-2003 to 07-2004.

(Co-PI) with Diana Burgess and Michelle van Ryn, Providers’ perceptions of healthcare disparities, Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. $29,000. Date: 07-2003 to 07-2004.

Cost Sharing Grant, Taft Memorial Fund, University of Cincinnati. $9844. Date: 2003.

Support to attend 2003 ISR summer workshop in Ann Arbor, MI, Faculty Development Council, University of Cincinnati. Date: 2003.

Summer Research Support, Taft Memorial Fund, University of Cincinnati. Date: 2002.

Cost Sharing Grant for participation in grant writing workshop, Taft Memorial Fund, University of Cincinnati. Date: 2001.

(PI) African American-white differences in medical care satisfaction, Student Award Program, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation. $3000. Date: 09-1998 to 08-2000.

(PI) Racial differences in medical care satisfaction, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. $29,482. Date: 08-1998 to 04-2000.

(PI) Jennifer Malat and Jeffrey Timberlake, Race/ethnicity and health care access and quality, Ohio Research Advisory Council of the Ohio Family Health Survey. 25644. Date: 09-2008 to 04-2009. Status: Completed.

(Investigator) Howard Jackson, et al., A Coherent Cross-disciplinary Learning Initiative in STEM, National Science Foundation. 250000. Date: 07-2010 to 06-2013. Status: Active.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Malat, Jennifer. 2006. "Expanding Research on the Racial Disparity in Medical Treatment with Ideas from Sociology." Health 10(3): 259-282.

Malat, Jennifer, and Mary Ann Hamilton. 2006. "Preference for Same Race Providers and Perceptions of Interpersonal Discrimination in Health Care." Journal of Health and Social Behavior(47): 173-187.

Malat, Jennifer, Michelle van Ryn, and David Purcell. 2006. "Race, Socioeconomic Status, and the Perceived Importance of Positive Self-Presentation in Health Care." Social Science & Medicine 62(10): 2479-2488.

van Ryn, Michelle, Diana Burgess, Jennifer Malat, and Joan Griffin. 2006. "Why Are Physicians Less Likely to Recommend CABG for Black Men? Examining the Role of Physicians' Perceptions of Patients' Social and Behavioral Characteristics." American Journal of Public Health 96(2): 351-357.

Burgess, Diana, Michelle van Ryn, Megan Matoka, and Jennifer Malat. 2006. "Understanding the Provider Contribution to Race/Ethnicity Disparities in Pain Treatment: A Social-Cognitive Framework." Pain Medicine 7(2): 119-134.

Malat, Jennifer and Michelle van Ryn. 2005. "African American Preference for Same-Race Doctors: The Role of Discrimination." Ethnicity & Disease 15(4): 739-747.

Malat, Jennifer, Hyun Joo Oh, and Mary Ann Hamilton. 2005. "Poverty Experience, Race, and Child Health." Public Health Reports 120(4): 442-447.

Moore, Philip J., Amy E. Sickel, Jennifer Malat, David R. Williams, James S. Jackson, and Nancy E. Adler. 2004. "Psychosocial Factors in Medical and Psychological Treatment Avoidance: The Role of the Doctor–Patient Relationship." Journal of Health Psychology 9(3): 421-433.

Malat, Jennifer. 2001. "Social Distance and Patients’ Rating of Healthcare Providers." Journal of Health and Social Behavior(42): 360-372.

Malat, Jennifer. 2000. "Racial Differences in Norplant Use in the United States." Social Science & Medicine 50(9): 1297-1308.

van Ryn, Michelle, Diana J. Burgess, John F. Dovidio, Sean M. Phelan, Somnath Saha, Jennifer Malat, Joan M. Griffin, Steven S. Fu, Sylvia Perry. 2011. “The Impact of Racism on Clinician Cognition, Behavior, and Clinical Decision-Making.” DuBois Review 8(1):199-218.

Malat, Jennifer, Rose Clark-Hitt, Diana Burgess, Greta Friedemann-Sanchez, and Michelle van Ryn. 2010. “White Doctors and Nurses on Racial Inequality in Health Care in the USA: Whiteness and Colour-Blind Racial Ideology.” Ethnic and Racial Studies33(8):1431-1450

Book Chapters

. 2002. "Research in the Sociology of Health Care, vol. 20, Social Inequalities, Health and Health Care Delivery." pp. 183-199 in Race and Satisfaction with Health Care: Theoretical and Methodological Issues, edited by J. Kronenfeld. New York: JAI Press.

Other Publications

Malat, Jennifer. Guest Editor, 2009 special issue of Sociological Focus, “Sociological Perspectives on Racial Inequality in Health and Health Care.” 42(2):83-86.

Malat, Jennifer, and Jeffrey M. Timberlake. 2009. “Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Health Care Access and Quality in the State of Ohio.” Report to the State of Ohio.

Invited Presentations

Malat, Jennifer (10/13/2009). Racial Inequality in Health Care: Patterns and Explanations. College of Public Health, The Ohio State University.

Malat, Jennifer, Jeffrey M. Timberlake (06/01/2009). Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Health Care Access and Quality in the State of Ohio. .

Malat, Jennifer, Jeffrey M. Timberlake (01/05/2009). Contemporary Experiences of Race and Racism in the United States . Cincinnati Museum Center.

Malat, Jennifer (11/06/2008). Social Networks and Treatment Decisions. Prostate Cancer Research Working Group, University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

Malat, Jennifer (05/17/2007). White Doctors and Nurses on Racial Inequality in Health Care. Health disparities working group, Department of Sociology, The Ohio State University.

Malat, Jennifer (05/11/2007). Doctors’ Explanations for Racial Inequality in Health Care: Theory and Methods. University of Cincinnati Medical School.

Lectures

(05/11/2007). Doctors’ Explanations for Racial Inequality in Health Care: Theory and Methods. University of Cincinnati Medical School.

Paper Presentations

Malat, Jennifer, Somnath Saha, Mary Catherine Beach, P. Todd Korthuis, Victoria L. Sharp, Jonathan A. Cohn, and Richard D. Moore. “A Novel Approach to Race in Patient-Health Care Provider Interactions: Health Care Provider Interracial Anxiety.” . Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Denver, CO. 2012.

Malat, Jennifer and Kelli Chapman. “Social Class and Cultural Capital in Health Care.”. Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Las Vegas, NV.. 2011.

Malat, Jennifer and Andrea Hunt. . “Psychological Well-Being and Economic Recession: Evidence from the General Social Survey.”. Annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Las Vegas, NV.. 2011.

Malat, Jennifer and Kelli Chapman. “Social Class, Cultural Capital, and Health Care.”. Taft Annual Symposium, Cincinnati, OH. 2011.

Malat, Jennifer and Andrea Hunt. . “The Effect of Recession and Recession Duration on Frequency of Social Contact.”. Annual meetings of the North Central Sociological Association, Cleveland, OH. 2011.

Malat, Jennifer and Jeffrey M. Timberlake. “County-Level Unemployment Change and Self-Rated Health.”. Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Atlanta, GA. 2010.

Malat, Jennifer, Jeffrey M. Timberlake, and David R. Williams. “Key Political Events in the 2008 Presidential Election, Race/Ethnicity, and Changes in Self-Rated Health.”. Annual meetings of the North Central Sociological Association, Chicago, IL. 2010.

Saha, Somnath, Jennifer Malat, P. Todd Korthuis, Richard D. Moore, Mary Catherine Beach. “Interracial Anxiety and the Patient-Provider Relationship.”. Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN. 2010.

Malat, Jennifer and Jeffrey M. Timberlake. “National Black Political Leadership and Racial Variation in Health Status: The Obama Test.”. Annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, San Francisco, CA . 2009.

Malat, Jennifer, Holly Haywood, and Cynthia Pate. “Race/Ethnicity, Inequality, and Health in the News.”. Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA . 2009.

Malat, Jennifer. “Racial Ideology and ‘Cultural Competence’ in Health Care.” . Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Boston, MA. 2008.

Malat, Jennifer, Rose Clark-Hitt, Diana Burgess, Michelle van Ryn, and Greta Friedemann-Sanchez. “Whites Naming Whiteness: White Doctors and Nurses on Racial Inequality.”. Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, New York, NY. 2007.

Malat, Jennifer, Rose Clark-Hitt, Diana Burgess, Michelle van Ryn, and Greta Friedemann-Sanchez. “White Health Care Professionals’ Explanation of Racial Inequality in Health Care.”. Annual meetings of the American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL. 2007.

Events Organized

Prof. Meeting. Invited session on race and health at the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Society (2005), .

Prof. Meeting. Medical sociology session for the annual meetings of the North Central Sociological Association (2003), .

Courses Taught

15-SOC-373 RACE IN MODERN SOC.

15-SOC-484 SOCIAL INEQUALITY.

15-SOC811, Seminar on Race.