Associate Professor of Political Science Dean Robinson has been selected as a 2010 Marion and Jasper Whiting Fellow. The fellowship will enable Professor Robinson to conduct research this summer in Australia and New Zealand on health disparities in those countries and the policies pursued by their governments to address the disparities. Similar to the United States, where overall mortality is 28% higher for black than white Americans, health outcomes for majority and minority populations differ significantly in Australia and New Zealand. For example, indigenous people in Australia have life expectancies that are 20 years shorter than the rest of the population, and in New Zealand, the standardized mortality rate for M?ori is twice that of non-M?ori. Government responses to these disparities differ among the countries, though, and Robinson’s fellowship will enable him to examine a range of factors–such as government design, political culture, and the influence of organized interests–to better understand these differences. Robinson’s travels this summer will also support the development of a new course that he plans to teach in 2010 on comparative health politics. Robinson’s research on health disparities builds on work that he began during a W.K. Kellogg Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health.
The Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation makes annual awards that enable faculty to travel abroad to enhance both their scholarship and the quality of their instruction. Professor Robinson is one of only 20 fellowship recipients in 2010; the Foundation received 87 applications overall. The foundation, which is based in Boston, began offering annual fellowships in 1965.