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J. Michael Oakes, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Co-Director, US Census Data Research Center
Division of Epidemiology & Community Health

Michael Oakes received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Massachusetts. His research and teaching interests include quantitative methodology, social epidemiology, and research ethics. He is author of many research papers addressing the intersection of social science and health and the highly acclaimed 2006 text, Methods in Social Epidemiology (now in revision). In 2007 he was a named a McKnight Presidential Fellow, an award given to a select group of the University's most promising new associate professors. In 2010 he was awarded the Schuman award for excellence in graduate teaching, the School of Public Health's highest teaching honor. In 2011, he was awarded the school's highest award for advising and mentoring. Dr. Oakes teaches basic courses in statistical programming and doctoral-level seminars in group randomized trials, advanced epidemiologic methodology, and social epidemiology. Among other things, he is currently Co-Chair of UMN's Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the protection of human research subjects and Vice-Chair of UMN's conflict of interest (COI) committee. 

  • Ph.D. in Sociology (methodology), University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  • B.B.A. in Management Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Courses

Fall 2012
PUBH  6325  Data Processing with PC-SAS (Section 001)
PUBH  6325  Data Processing with PC-SAS (Section 002)
PUBH  6325  Data Processing with PC-SAS (Section 003)
PUBH  6617  Secondary Data Analysis (Section 001)
PUBH  8341  Adv. Epi Methods: Concepts (Section 001)

Research Interests:

Quantitative Methods, Social Epidemiology, Research Ethics

Related Links:

Research Projects (1)

J. Michael Oakes

Mailing Address:
Division of Epidemiology & Community Health
1300 South Second Street, Suite 300
Minneapolis, MN 55454

Phone (Work): 624-6855
For appts: Barb Lux, 626-9092 or b-lux@umn.edu

Email:

Selected Publications:

Oakes, JM. 2012. The Measurement of SES. NIH OBSSR Online Textbook Research Methods for Health Research  http://www.esourceresearch.org/

Oakes, JM. 2012. The Social Epidemiology of Women’s Health. Women and Health, 2nd Ed. Troisi and Goldman, editors. 

Macmillan, R. N Duke,  JM Oakes, W Liao. 2011 “Trends in the association of obesity and self-reported health in 30 years of the integrated health interview series” Obesity. 19: 1103-1105 

MacLehose, R, JM Oakes, B Carlin. 2011. “Commentary: Bayesian Cranks” Epidemiology. 22: 365-367 

McDonald, Kelsey, JM Oakes, A. Forsyth. 2011. “The Effect of Neighborhood Density and Walkability on BMI: The Twin Cities Walking Study. J Epidemiology and Community Health. 

Messer  LC, JM Oakes, S Mason. 2010. “Socioeconomic and racial residential segregation effects on preterm birth: a cautionary tale of structural confounding”. American Journal of Epidemiology. (with discussion) 171: 664-673 

Oakes, JM, LC Messer, S Mason. 2010. “Determining Positivity: A Response to Westreich and Cole”. American Journal of Epidemiology. 171: 680-681 

Rosser, B.R.S., JM Oakes, Konstan, J., Hooper, S., Horvath, K.J., Danilenko, G.P., Nygaard, K.R., Smolenski, D.J. 2010. Reducing HIV Risk Behavior of MSM through Persuasive Computing: Results of the Men’s INTernet Study (MINTS-II). AIDS. 24(13):2099-2107. 

Oakes JM, Masse LC, Messer LC. 2009.  Methodological Issues in Research on the Food and Physical Activity Environment: Overcoming Data Complexity.  American Journal of Preventive Medicine 36:S177-S181. 

Forsyth A, Oakes JM, Schmitz K. 2009. Test-Retest Reliability of the Twin Cities Walking Survey. Journal of Physical Activity & Health. 6:119-131 

Davern M, S Ruggles, T Swenson,  JT Alexander, JM Oakes. 2009. Drawing Statistical Inferences from Historical Census Data. Demography. 46: 589-603 

Rydell S, Harnack L, Oakes JM, Jeffery R, French S. 2008. Why Eat at Fast Food Restaurants: Reported Reasons Among Frequent Consumers.  J Am Dietic Assoc 108:2066-2070 

Manson, SM, HA Sander, D. Ghosh, JM Oakes, et al. 2008. Parcel data for research and policy. Geography Compass 3:698-726 

Forsyth A, Oakes JM, Lee B, Schmitz K. 2009. The Built Environment, Walking, and Physical Activity: Is the Environment More Important to Some People than Others?  Transportation Research, Part D. 42-49 

Oakes JM. 2009. Invited commentary: Individual, Ecological and Multilevel Fallacies. International Journal of Epidemiology 38:361-68 

Harnack LJ, SA French, JM Oakes, MT Story, RW Jeffery, SA Rydell. 2008. Effects of Calorie Labeling and Value Size Pricing on Fast Food Meal Choices: Results from an Experimental Trial. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 5:63 

Rosser, BRS, JM Oakes, KJ Horvath, JA Konstan, JL Peterson. 2009. HIV Sexual Risk Behavior by Men who use the Internet to seek Sex with Men: Results of the Men's INTernet Sex Study-II.  AIDS and Behavior 11: 488-98  

Oakes, J. Michael. 2009. “The Effect of Media on Children: A Methodological Assessment From a Social Epidemiologist,” American Behavioral Scientist 52: 1136-1151.

Professional Experience:

Current Research Projects A major research interest is the impact of social systems on health outcomes. Dr. Oakes is conducting several studies within this broad program and refining methodologies for the same.



  • Collaborating with colleagues from the Mayo Clinic's Rochester Epidemiologic Project to abstract clinical records and estimate obesity trajectories over the life course and their relation to diabetes.

  • Estimating the effect of residential neighborhoods on health outcomes. In collaboration with Dr. Ann Forsyth (Harvard), Dr. Oakes continues to work on a RWJ Foundation-funded "walkability" study in St. Paul area.

  • Evaluating the effect of internet use on HIV risk behavior and how we may use the internet to mitigate such risks. New research is addressing important methodological obstacles inherent in this line of work. Related work is addressing the effect of state law on HIV risk behavior and adherence to HIV medications.

  • A fruitful collaboration with Dr. Ross Macmillan (UMN Sociology) that considers immigrant health and demographic trends in obesity.

  • Work with Drs. Moen and Kelly (UMN Sociology) on a large-scale group-randomized trial evaluating flexible work schedules on health outcomes.

  • A study, with Dr. Harlow, on the prevalence and etiology of vulvodynia.

  • Several studies with Dr. Fitch (MPC) on the effect of socioeconomic contexts on marriage formation

  • Dr. Oakes also works on a vast array of other studies including issues gambling addiction, diseases in cattle and related zoonoses, and census data refinement and development.

  • Finally, Dr. Oakes is interested in various aspects of the faculty governance and the responsible conduct of research. He served the University's Faculty Senate for five years and the Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) for three years, one of which as Vice Chair. Additionally, he has been a chair of the University's institutional review board for the protection of human research subjects (IRB) for over ten years and has been serving as Vice-Chair of the University's Conflict of Interest Committee since 2010. 


Current Appointments
    Associate Professor of Epidemiology, UMN
    Co-Director, Census Research Data Center
    Chair, IRB Panel 07 (Student Research)
    Vice Chair, IRB Executive Committee
    Vice Chair, University COI Conflict of Interest Committee
    Director, Social Epidemiology Workgroup
    Affiliated faculty, MN Population Research Center
    Adjunct faculty, Department of Sociology


Current Editorial Boards
    Health and Place
    Journal of Causal Inference


Prior Appointments
2000-2007 Assistant Professor of Epidemiology; 1997-2001 Research Scientist, New England Research Institutes; 1996-1997 Methodologist/Statistician, The Gallup Organization; 1992-1997 Research Assistant, SADRI, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Honors:

2011: School of Public Health Excellence in Advising & Mentoring Award


2010: Leonard A. Schuman Award for Excellence in Teaching


2009-Present: Senior Advisor, RWJF Healthy Eating Research initiative


2007-2010: McKnight Presidential Fellow, UMN


2003: Elected to Delta Omega, National Public Health Honor Society


2000: Fellow. 26th Ten-day Post-Doctoral Seminar on Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Tahoe, CA, AHA/NHLBI.

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