Faculty Profiles

BIO

Pamela Herd is the Carol Kakalec Kohn Professor of Social Policy and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research Population Studies Center and Survey Research Center.

Her research focuses on inequality and how it intersects with health, aging, and policy. Broadly, her research examines social determinants of heatlh. Her current work is centered on the social determinants of cognitive health in later life. She is a MPI (with Sanjay Asthana and Michal Engelman) on a study tracking dementia in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (2R01AG060737). She is also a MPI with Sanjay Asthana and Katrina Walsemann for the Network on Education, Biosocial Pathways, and Dementia across Diverse Populations (R24AG077433) that aims to establish a network of researchers focused on the relationship between education, biosocial pathways, and dementia across diverse populations, as well as to broaden the field of researchers new to studying the social determinants of dementia.

She is also an expert in survey research and biodemographic methods. She is currently one of the Co-Principal Investigators for General Social Survey, an Investigator with the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey, and Chair of the NIH Data Advisory Board for the National Study of Adolescent Health.

Professor Herd also researches administrative burden, or the bureaucratic obstacles that people encounter when trying to access government benefits, services, and rights. She is especially interested in how this burden is both shaped by and further reinforces inequality. Her book Administrative Burden, Policymaking by Other Means has received numerous awards, was reviewed in the New York Review of Books, and has helped influence state and federal policy reforms, including recent executive orders by the Biden Administration. She frequently writes and speaks on these topics to media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, NPR, and the PBS NewsHour.

In addition to her book awards, Professor Herd has received the Outstanding Public Engagement in Health Policy Award from the American Political Science Association, the Kohl Award, the AARP Innovation Award, and the Wilder School Award for Scholarship in Social Equity in Public Policy Analysis, given by the National Academy of Public Administration.s awards, was reviewed in the New York Review of Books, and has helped influence state and federal policy reforms, including recent executive orders by the Biden Administration. She frequently writes and speaks on these topics to media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, NPR, and the PBS NewsHour.

In addition to her book awards, Professor Herd has received the Outstanding Public Engagement in Health Policy Award from the American Political Science Association, the Kohl Award, the AARP Innovation Award, and the Wilder School Award for Scholarship in Social Equity in Public Policy Analysis, given by the National Academy of Public Administration.