Janet Rosenbaum uses causal inference methods to study adolescent and young adult reproductive and sexual health, especially relationship power imbalances and biomarkers of semen exposure. She also studies education as a social determinant of health, including school discipline policy and community college completion. She completed her Ph.D., A.M., and A.B. at Harvard University and postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and has held a research-track faculty position at the University of Maryland at College Park. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (tenure-track) at the SUNY Downstate School of Public Health in Brooklyn, and serves on the American Public Health Association Governing Council representing the statistics section. 

Academic Qualifications: Postdoctoral Fellowship: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health PhD: Harvard University MA: Harvard University Background and Expertise: Janet Rosenbaum studies educational and economic factors in adolescent health. Her methodological expertise is in causal inference methods such as matched sampling. Her current projects include high school suspension (funded by the Spencer Foundation), community colleges (funded by the American Educational Research Association), and coerced unsafe sex and pregnancy. Dr. Rosenbaum completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health under a Centers for Disease Control sexually transmitted diseases training grant. She also earned a Ph.D. in health policy and statistics, an M.A. in statistics, and a B.A. in physics, all from Harvard University. Her dissertation studied virginity pledges and adolescents' inconsistent reporting of their sexual histories, and was covered by media including the New York Times, National Public Radio, and Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. Areas of Study Health behaviors of community college students Community college students are a large and growing portion of the young adult population in the United States. Little public health research has focused on this group. This project --- currently funded by the American Educational Research Association, and funded in the past by the American Institutes for Research from a Gates Foundation grant --- characterizes the community college student population. Studies include quantification of educational health disparities between community college graduates versus other young adults (Health Services and Outcomes Research Methodology, in press), a longitudinal case-control study to identify factors that predict community college graduation, and identification of health risk behaviors of community college students. Out-of-school suspension and expulsion and adolescent risk behavior In 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement that out-of-school suspension and expulsion "jeopardize children's health and safety." Schools make more liberal use of out-of-school expulsion and suspension than in the past, but little or no public health research has tested the outcomes for students who were suspended or expelled. This project, funded by the Spencer Foundation, quantifies long-term educational and risk behavior outcomes of students who were suspended/expelled from school, and identifies groups that are more strongly affected. Economic factors in adolescents' sexual behavior Some youths obtain spending money from their romantic partners. Past research has found that non-romantic relationships in which money is exchanged directly for sex are risky, but we know little about risks associated with romantic relationships that include economic exchanges. Dr. Rosenbaum found that condom non-use is twice as common among adolescent girls whose boyfriends are their primary source of spending money, compared with girls who have other sources. Employment may help adolescents stay independent but may pose other problems. Selected Honors Population Association of America, poster prize, 2012 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine Early Investigators' Award finalist (one of 4), 2011 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), poster prize, 2008