Irina Grafova, Ph.D. joined the Bloustein School as an Associate Professor in 2023. Trained as a health economist, Dr. Grafova’s research aims to bring new evidence to socio-economic inequalities in health and health disparities. She has conducted research on family financial strain, family healthcare spending inequities, the financial burden of the disease, and health inequities stemming from the neighborhood and work environment.

She has worked on several collaborative interdisciplinary research projects. Collaborating with the World City Project she examined intra-urban health inequities in middle-income countries. Additionally, she collaborated with faculty in the Rutgers University School of Nursing, where she examined the physical and emotional exhaustion rates and burnout rates among acute care nurses in New Jersey during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her recent publications appeared in Preventive Medicine, Journal of Nursing Management, Vaccine, Review of Economics of the Household, Health Economics, Policy and Law. Her research was funded by NIH, AHRQ, and private foundations. Dr. Grafova received the Excellence in Research Award from the Foundation of the UMDNJ.

Research Interests