The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents awarded La Follette School faculty member Lauren Schmitz tenure, effective this fall. Schmitz’s new title is associate professor.
Schmitz’s research focuses on using social, genomic, and epigenomic data to study how social inequalities shape disparities in health and socioeconomic attainment. Her work aims to better understand the degree to which environments and genetic diversity contribute to health and education.
“In just a handful of years with La Follette, Lauren has established herself as a leading scholar in the emerging field of social genomics,” La Follette Director and Professor Susan Yackee says. Just as importantly, she has proved to be a wonderful colleague, mentor, and educator. She goes above and beyond to help make La Follette a world-class program.” Schmitz joined the La Follette School in 2019 after several years as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. She received her PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research in 2015. She heads the Biosocial Equity Lab on campus and is the associate director of UW-Madison’s Center for Demography of Health and Aging.
“I’m excited to receive this promotion and look forward to continuing to serve the La Follette School community through my research and teaching,” Schmitz says.
Also effective this fall, La Follette faculty member Christine Durrance has been promoted to professor after her exceptional work as an associate professor for La Follette.
Durrance’s research is focused on maternal, infant, and reproductive health; risky behavior including substance use, the opioid crisis, violence, and child maltreatment; and competition in health care markets. She specializes her focus on vulnerable populations, using diverse research methods to identify causal effects and their important policy implications.
“Christine is an accomplished and prolific scholar who cares deeply about her work and her students,” Yackee says. “The breadth of her research is impressive, but her commitment to studying and helping vulnerable populations in her work is even more so. We are lucky to have Christine at La Follette.”
Durrance joined La Follette in 2020 as an associate professor after 13 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a leadership role with the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity on campus and serves as director for the gender and reproductive health research group with UW-Madison’s Center for Demography and Ecology.