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Professor Summer Sherburne Hawkins, PhD, MS, joined the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW) faculty in 2012. She is a social epidemiologist with an interest in addressing policy-relevant research questions in women’s and children’s health. Her research examines the impact of policies on health disparities in parents and children, particularly using methodology that integrates epidemiology and economics. She uses applied econometric techniques to evaluate natural experiments created through policy changes within and between US states, including substance use policies, reproductive health-related policies, breastfeeding policies, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Professor Hawkins has published extensively in peer-reviewed public health journals on the topics of tobacco and cannabis use, maternal morbidity and mortality, infant feeding practices, and preventive health services as well as the impact of state policies on disparities in these health behaviors and outcomes.

Dr Hawkins is leading two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health examining how the rapidly changing cannabis policy landscape is influencing substance use during pregnancy. The first is a four-year study in the state of Maine, which provides an important natural experiment to understand the trajectory of cannabis use among pregnant women following the legalization of recreational cannabis in 2017 and the introduction of retail sales in 2020, which required municipalities to opt in. Through a novel data linkage of individual-level survey data on prenatal substance use, birth certificates, and health insurance claims, we will rigorously evaluate the effects of state- and county-level recreational cannabis policies on women’s cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol use before, during, and after pregnancy and, subsequently, on birth outcomes and maternal and child health outcomes . The second project is a two-year study using the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System to examine the effects of state recreational cannabis laws on women’s use of cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol during pregnancy, birth outcomes, and health care providers’ assessment of prenatal substance use Both studies use quasi-experimental methods to rigorously evaluate policy effects overall and across higher-risk groups with the aim of informing public health and policy responses to the cannabis policy environment.

Dr. Hawkins is the Director for the Global Public Health and the Common Good program and the Assistant Director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Boston College. She also serves as the Chair of SACRU on Gender Equity in the University and as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. Prior to joining the BCSSW, Professor Hawkins was a Cohort 7 Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2009-2011.