University of Washington Bothell faculty member Shauna Carlisle has received the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (WWNFF) 2014 Career Enhancement Fellowship for Junior Faculty.

The prestigious fellowship provides Carlisle with one year to pursue her scholarly research and writing, and pairs her with a senior colleague in her field as a mentor. Carlisle is an assistant professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

Carlisle will conduct research related to the relationship between stress, coping, and health. Her work could lead to community interventions designed to lessen the physiological impact of socio-environmental factors and possibly result in a reduction of excess costs due to health inequalities.

“Currently, funding for improving health care focuses primarily on medical advancements,” Carlisle said. “Shifting the focus to eliminating health disparities could reduce the public costs associated with spending on the U.S. health system by averting the costs of treating a sicker population.”

Carlisle, whose research focuses on the intersection of race, ethnicity, and nativity, and its implications on population health, says the economic burden of racial inequalities in health has been reported to be 30 percent in excess costs. Health inequalities and premature death combined cost more than $1.24 trillion dollars between 2003 and 2006.

“Professor Carlisle’s scholarship is exemplary in its integration of research, teaching, and engagement, with a consistent emphasis on student success and leadership,” said Bruce Burgett, dean at the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. “Her Woodrow Wilson fellowship is much deserved and will be well-used.”

While the fellowship will give Carlisle an opportunity to focus on this work, she says she is also excited about the undergraduate research opportunities it will provide for UW Bothell students.

“It is such an honor to receive this award and I am grateful for the support I have received from my colleagues,” Carlisle said. “I am excited to contribute to the research agenda on the UW Bothell campus. Many students approach me expressing their interest in the social determinants of health and now I can provide an opportunity for these students to participate.”