The National Institutes of Health has recognized University of Minnesota School of Public Health (SPH) Assistant Professor Katie Berry with its 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, which supports outstanding, early career scientists and is designed to help them bypass the traditional postdoctoral training period to launch independent research careers.

With the Early Independence Award, which is part of NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, Berry will investigate potential policies to improve health and reduce mortality for people experiencing homelessness across the U.S.

More than 582,000 people in the U.S. experience homelessness each night, and a staggering 1.25 million people enter the shelter system each year. People experiencing homelessness endure extreme adversity, drastically increasing their risk of dying young. Although the response to the homelessness crisis primarily occurs at the local level, local data on homeless mortality is largely unavailable. The limited data that does exist shows substantial variation in homeless mortality rates by place, suggesting that place-based factors may impact mortality risk.

Berry will explore this association between place-based factors and homeless mortality — providing insight into how local policies and programs might be optimized to improve health and reduce mortality among people experiencing homelessness.

A social epidemiologist and population health scientist, Berry’s research investigates how social policy and other factors shape health and health inequities. Berry recently completed her PhD in Epidemiology at SPH, and in August, joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health. She is also a faculty member of the Minnesota Population Center and the Life Course Center.

Berry will publish the results of the research in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, she is planning to share key findings with the nearly 400 Continuums of Care programs across the country (Continuums of Care are local planning bodies that oversee homeless policy programming and service distribution within specific geographic areas). Berry is also planning to create a publicly accessible project website featuring interactive visualizations, project data, and key results.

Collaborators on the project include Darin Erickson from SPH, David Van Riper from the Institute for Social Research and Data Innovation, Rebekah Pratt from U of M Medical School, and Katherine Diaz Vickery, U of M Medical School and Hennepin Health Care Research Institute.