Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel FIRST Program
smh483@drexel.edu
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Degrees

PhD, Applied Demography, University of Texas at San Antonio
MS, Demography, Florida State University
BS, Sociology, Florida State University

Bio

Stephanie Hernandez, PhD, MS, is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She joined the Dornsife School of Public Health as part of the Drexel FIRST (Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation) program.

Dr. Hernandez is a demographer whose research seeks to document, understand, and address sexual and gender minority (SGM) health inequities. Currently, her research agenda spans three areas including examining differences in socioeconomic status among sexual and gender minorities, operationalizing intersectionality in SGM health inequity research, and incorporating biopsychosocial approaches to better understand SGM health inequities across the life course.

Dr. Hernandez is co-lead of the Queer Inclusion, Equality, Health, & Rights (QuIEHR) Working Group at Dornsife’s Urban Health Collaborative and serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern Demographic Association. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Prior to joining Drexel, Dr. Hernandez completed her postdoctoral training at the Carolina Population Center at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Hernandez received her PhD in Applied Demography from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a Master of Science in Demography from Florida State University.

Research Interests

• Demography
• Sexual and Gender Minority Health
• Intersectionality
• Minority Stress
• Hispanic/Latino Health
• Socioeconomic Status
• Social Determinants of Health

Publications

Hernandez, S. M., Halpern, C. T., & Conron, K. J. (2024). Sexual orientation, gender expression and socioeconomic status in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. J Epidemiol Community Health, 78(2), 121-128.

Jahn, J. L., & Hernandez, S. M. (2023). Mortality Inequities: Power, Theory, and Data Considerations. American Journal of Public Health, 113(7), 726-728.

Miller, G. H., Marquez-Velarde, G., Mills, A. R., Hernandez, S. M., Brown, L. E., Mustafa, M., & Shircliff, J. E. (2023). Patients’ Perceived Level of Clinician Knowledge of Transgender Health Care, Self-rated Health, and Psychological Distress Among Transgender Adults. JAMA Network Open, 6(5), e2315083-e2315083.

Halpern, C.T., Burshell, D.R., Hernandez, S. M., Qu, L & Conron, K. J. 2023. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Socioeconomic Status, and Health across the Life Course Study (SOGI-SES) User Guide: Study Overview. The Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC and the Williams Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA funded by the National Institutes of Health. Available from: https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/sogi-ses-user-guide/.

Hernandez, S. M., & Sparks, P. J. (2020). Barriers to health care among adults with minoritized identities in the United States, 2013–2017. American Journal of Public Health, 110(6), 857-862.

See Dr. Hernandez's NCBI bibliography