Courtney S. Thomas Tobin
Courtney S. Thomas Tobin, PhD is an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences and the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the Fielding School of Public Health. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and holds a join appointment in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA.
Dr. Thomas Tobin’s research examines the social, psychological, and biological (i.e., biopsychosocial) pathways to health and longevity among Black Americans. As a trained medical sociologist, Dr. Thomas Tobin integrates traditional sociological theories with perspectives from public health, social psychology, medicine, and the biological sciences to better understand the causes and consequences of long-standing Black-White differences in health. She utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods to consider the multiple ways that racial minority status shapes the everyday experiences and health trajectories of Black Americans across the life course.
Dr. Thomas Tobin’s program of research makes conceptual and empirical contributions to three interrelated areas of inquiry: (1) psychosocial pathways to embodiment; (2) health risks and resources across the life course; and (3) racialized stress and coping processes among Black Americans.
Education
- Postdoctoral Training, University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Ph.D. Sociology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
- M.A. Sociology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
- B.S. Psychology, Xavier University of Louisiana
Areas of Interest
- Black/African American Health
- Sociology of Mental Health
- Psychobiology of Stress and Coping
- Aging & the Life Course
- Maternal & Child Health
- Race & Racism