Wang

Emily Wang

Associate Professor, Yale School of Medicine
Associate Director, Transitions Clinic Network
Chapter Member: Connecticut SSN
Areas of Expertise:

About Emily

Wang is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and Co-Founder of the Transitions Clinic Network. Dr. Wang’s research focuses on promoting health equity for vulnerable populations, especially individuals with a history of incarceration, through both prison- and community-based interventions. She has developed expertise in training former prisoners to become community health workers and researchers through community-based participatory research methods. She is the Co-Founder of the Transitions Clinic Network, a consortium of 11 community health centers nationwide dedicated to caring for recently released prisoners and defining best practices for the health care of individuals leaving prison. In 2012, the Transitions Clinic Network was awarded the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation Award to provide care to over 5,000 high-risk, high-cost patients returning from prison and to train and employ former prisoners as community health workers. Dr. Wang is the principal investigator on a number of National Institute of Health -funded research projects, including a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded project to improve cardiovascular outcomes in patients with a history of incarceration. She was awarded the Junior Researcher Award from the National Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health (2010) and participated in the Institute of Medicine’s Health and Incarceration Workshop (2012). Dr. Wang has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, a Medical Doctorate from Duke University, and a Master of Advanced Studies from the University of California, San Francisco.

In the News

Emily Wang's research on community-based and community-driven intervention to prevent and reduce the negative effects of gun violence discussed by Karen N. Peart, "Strong Neighborhood Ties Can Help Reduce Gun Violence," New Haven Register, December 20, 2014.
Emily Wang's research on rates of hospitalization among recently released inmates discussed by Karen N. Peart, "Former Prisoners More Likely to be Hospitalized for Preventable Conditions," Yale News, July 22, 2013.
Emily Wang's research on how expedited primary care for former inmates reduces emergency department utilization rates discussed by Helen Dodson, "Healthcare for Released Prisoners Prevents High Emergency Department Use," Yale News, July 19, 2013.
Emily Wang's research on the association between food insecurity and HIV risk behaviors discussed by Helen Dodson, "Ban on Food Stamps Leads to Hunger, HIV Risk among Former Drug Felons," Yale News, March 25, 2013.
Emily Wang quoted on on the food stamp ban among former drug felons, "Unfair Punishments" New York Times, March 16, 2013.
"California Medicaid Expansion: A Lifeline for Ex-Convicts," Emily Wang, Interview with Sarah Varney, NPR’s Morning Edition, September 13, 2011.
Emily Wang's research on the health effects of incarceration discussed by Roni Caryn Rabin, "Jail Time Increases Odds of Hypertension, Researchers Find," New York Times, April 13, 2009.
Guest to discuss prison health care on KQED, Emily Wang, March 17, 2008.

Publications

"Neighborhood Incarceration Rate and Asthma Prevalence in New York City: A Multilevel Approach" (with Joseph W. Frank, Clemens S. Hong, and S.V. Subramanian). American Journal of Public Health 103, no. 5 (2013): e38-e44.
Uses the New York City Community Health Survey to compare neighborhood rate of incarceration with asthma prevalence in order to assess the relationship between incarceration rates and risk for chronic illness. We found that asthma prevalence was most closely associated with sociodemographic disparities and individual characteristics, as opposed to neighborhood rates of incarceration.
"A Pilot Study Examining Food Insecurity and HIV Risk Behaviors among Individuals Recently Released from Prison" (with Gefei A. Zhu, Linda Evans, Amy Carroll-Scott, Rani Desai, and Lynn E. Fiellin). AIDS Education and Prevention 25, no. 2 (2013): 112-123.
Describes how individuals who are recently released from prison are often faced with unstable sources of nutrition and are at increased risk for contracting HIV. We found that lack of food security was directly associated with HIV risk behaviors such as substance abuse before sex or exchanging money for sex; and this was more common among individuals who live in states with a ban on food stamps.
"A High Risk of Hospitalization Following Release from Correctional Facilities in Medicare Beneficiaries: A Retrospective Matched Cohort Study, 2002-2010" (with Yongfei Wang and Harlan M. Krumholz). Journal of the American Medical Association: Internal Medicine (2013): e1-e8.
Uses Medicare administrative claims data to explore risk for hospitalization among former inmates returning to their communities at one week, one month, and three months post-release. We found that former inmates were hospitalized at a much higher rate within these timeframes than the general population.
"Engaging Individuals Recently Released from Prison into Primary Care: A Randomized Trial" (with Clemens S. Hong, Shira Shavit, Eric Kessell, Ronald Sanders, and Margot B. Kushel). American Journal of Public Health 102, no. 9 (2012): 112-123.
Compares two interventions designed to improve primary care engagement and reduce acute care utilization: Transitions Clinic versus expedited primary care. We found that the Transitions Clinic program reduces emergency department utilization over expedited care, and that recently released prisoners will engage in primary care if it is made readily-accessible. The Transitions Clinic program reduces emergency department visits by 51%.
"Studying Health Disparities by Including Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Individuals" (with Christopher Wildeman). Journal of the American Medical Association 305, no. 16 (2011): 1708-1709.
Argues that, by not including incarcerated individuals in national surveys, our nation’s health surveillance systems may provide flawed estimates of racial/ethnic disparities in cardiovascular risk factors and miss opportunities to understand how incarceration and the correctional health care system affect cardiovascular risk factors and disease.
"Incarceration, Incident Hypertension, and Access to Healthcare: Findings from the Coronary Artery Risk Development In Young Adults (CARDIA) Study" (with Mark Pletcher, Feng Lin, Eric Vittinghoff, Stefan G. Kertesz, Catarina I. Kiefe, and Kristen Bibbins-Domingo). Archives of Internal Medicine 196, no. 7 (2009): 687-693.
Examines the independent association of prior incarceration with incident hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia using the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Our research showed that prevalence of incident hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy was significantly correlated with prior incarceration, and rates of these conditions were increased among sub-populations with higher levels of incarceration.