Rachel Garg examines the impact of individual-level unmet social needs – such as housing instability and food insecurity – on health outcomes and behaviors such as smoking cessation. She seeks to build theory around mechanisms linking social needs and health to inform future intervention development to address social needs and reduce health disparities.
Garg is highly engaged in health disparities research at the Health Communication Research Laboratory. Her work includes surveillance of social needs, health communication, program evaluation, and intervention development and testing. Two threads of her recent research include testing interventions to help low-income smokers quit and analyzing data from 211 helplines to report on the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Garg has published research in journals such as Annual Review of Public Health, Health Affairs, and American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Rachel Garg
- Research Assistant Professor
- PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
- Email: rminson@wustl.edu
Areas of Focus:
- Smoking cessation
- Cancer prevention and control
- Social needs
- Health disparities
- Integrating health and social services