Justin White, PhD
Associate Professor
Epidemiology & Biostatistics
School of Medicine

Dr. White is a health economist who conducts research to evaluate the effects of interventions and policies on behavioral risk factors for chronic disease and related health outcomes in underserved populations. Much of his recent work has focused on tobacco use and nutrition. In one stream of research, Dr. White applies quasi-experimental econometric techniques to evaluate the effects of social and economic policies on mitigating chronic disease risk. Recent and ongoing evaluation projects focus on: taxation of unhealthy products, cash and food assistance programs, and poverty alleviation programs. In a second stream, he designs and implements incentive-based interventions to change health behavior among low-income groups, evaluated through randomized trials and informed by insights from the field of behavioral economics. Recent and ongoing interventional studies focus on: smoking cessation and prevention, diet, and oral health.

Dr. White holds a PhD in health policy and a concurrent MA in economics from UC Berkeley and an MSPH in health policy from UNC Chapel Hill. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular disease prevention at Stanford University's Prevention Research Center.

• Developing a Game (Inner Dragon) Within a Leading Smartphone App for Smoking Cessation: Design and Feasibility Evaluation Study.
  JMIR serious games 2023 White JS, Salem MK, Toussaert S, Westmaas JL, Raiff BR, Crane D, Warrender E, Lyles C, Abroms L, Thrul J
• Patterns of US Mental Health-Related Emergency Department Visits During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
  JAMA network open 2023 Villas-Boas S, Kaplan S, White JS, Hsia RY
• Trends in depression risk before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  PloS one 2023 Villas-Boas SB, White JS, Kaplan S, Hsia RY
• Data envelopment analysis to evaluate the efficiency of tobacco treatment programs in the NCI Moonshot Cancer Center Cessation Initiative.
  Implementation science communications 2023 Pluta K, Hohl SD, D'Angelo H, Ostroff JS, Shelley D, Asvat Y, Chen LS, Cummings KM, Dahl N, Day AT, Fleisher L, Goldstein AO, Hayes R, Hitsman B, Buckles DH, King AC, Lam CY, Lenhoff K, Levinson AH, …
• Evaluation of the sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Oakland, United States, 2015-2019: A quasi-experimental and cost-effectiveness study.
  PLoS medicine 2023 White JS, Basu S, Kaplan S, Madsen KA, Villas-Boas SB, Schillinger D
• Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes and Perinatal Health: A Quasi-Experimental Study.
  American journal of preventive medicine 2023 Jackson KE, Hamad R, Karasek D, White JS
• Neighborhood disadvantage and the risk of dementia and mortality among refugees to Denmark: A quasi-experimental study.
  SSM - population health 2022 Kim MH, Foverskov E, Frøslev T, White JS, Glymour MM, Hainmueller J, Pedersen L, Sørensen HT, Hamad R
• Perceptions and Aspirations Toward Peer Mentoring in Social Media-Based Electronic Cigarette Cessation Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults: Focus Group Study.
  JMIR formative research 2022 Lyu JC, Afolabi A, White JS, Ling PM
• Risk of Psychiatric Disorders Among Refugee Children and Adolescents Living in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods.
  JAMA pediatrics 2022 Foverskov E, White JS, Frøslev T, Sørensen HT, Hamad R
• Association between indoor residual spraying and pregnancy outcomes: a quasi-experimental study from Uganda.
  International journal of epidemiology 2022 Roh ME, Mpimbaza A, Oundo B, Irish A, Murphy M, Wu SL, White JS, Shiboski S, Glymour MM, Gosling R, Dorsey G, Sturrock H
• Opportunities and challenges in using instrumental variables to study causal effects in nonrandomized stress and trauma research.
  Psychological trauma : theory, research, practice and policy 2022 Matthay EC, Smith ML, Glymour MM, White JS, Gradus JL
• School racial segregation and long-term cardiovascular health among Black adults in the US: A quasi-experimental study.
  PLoS medicine 2022 Kim MH, Schwartz GL, White JS, Glymour MM, Reardon SF, Kershaw KN, Gomez SL, Collin DF, Inamdar PP, Wang G, Hamad R
• Neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage and psychiatric disorders among refugees: a population-based, quasi-experimental study in Denmark.
  Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology 2022 Foverskov E, White JS, Norredam M, Frøslev T, Kim MH, Glymour MM, Pedersen L, Sørensen HT, Hamad R
• School Racial Segregation and the Health of Black Children.
  Pediatrics 2022 Wang G, Schwartz GL, Kim MH, White JS, Glymour MM, Reardon S, Kershaw KN, Gomez SL, Inamdar PP, Hamad R
• Non-monetary incentives for tobacco prevention among youth in Indonesia.
  Journal of health economics 2022 Triyana M, White JS
• The Potential for Healthy Checkout Policies to Advance Nutrition Equity.
  Nutrients 2021 Falbe J, White JS, Sigala DM, Grummon AH, Solar SE, Powell LM
• Evaluation of Clinical and Economic Outcomes Following Implementation of a Medicare Pay-for-Performance Program for Surgical Procedures.
  JAMA network open 2021 Kim KM, White JS, Max W, Chapman SA, Muench U
• Paid Family Leave and Mental Health in the U.S.: A Quasi-Experimental Study of State Policies.
  American journal of preventive medicine 2021 Irish AM, White JS, Modrek S, Hamad R
• Mixed-methods economic evaluation of the implementation of tobacco treatment programs in National Cancer Institute-designated cancer centers.
  Implementation science communications 2021 Salloum RG, D'Angelo H, Theis RP, Rolland B, Hohl S, Pauk D, LeLaurin JH, Asvat Y, Chen LS, Day AT, Goldstein AO, Hitsman B, Hudson D, King AC, Lam CY, Lenhoff K, Levinson AH, Prochaska J, …
• Patient Perspectives and Willingness to Accept Incentives for Tuberculosis Diagnostic Evaluation in Uganda.
  Value in health regional issues 2021 Kadota JL, Nabwire S, Nalugwa T, White JS, Cattamanchi A, Katamba A, Shete PB
• The effects of state earned income tax credits on mental health and health behaviors: A quasi-experimental study.
  Social science & medicine (1982) 2021 Collin DF, Shields-Zeeman LS, Batra A, White JS, Tong M, Hamad R
• Effects of a minimum floor Price law on cigarette use in Oakland, California: A static microsimulation model.
  Preventive medicine 2021 Boettiger DC, White JS
• Can incentive-compatibility reduce hypothetical bias in smokers’ experimental choice behavior? A randomized discrete choice experiment.
  Journal of Choice Modelling 2020 John Buckell, Justin S. White, Ce Shang
• Do penalty-based pay-for-performance programs improve surgical care more effectively than other payment strategies? A systematic review.
  Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) 2020 Kim KM, Max W, White JS, Chapman SA, Muench U
• Beverage Advertisement Receptivity Associated With Sugary Drink Intake and Harm Perceptions Among California Adolescents.
  American journal of health promotion : AJHP 2020 Chaffee BW, Werts M, White JS, Couch ET, Urata J, Cheng J, Kearns C
• Can incentive-compatibility reduce hypothetical bias in smokers’ experimental choice behavior? A randomized discrete choice experiment
  Journal of Choice Modelling 2020 Buckell J, White JS, Shang C
• Incentive programmes for smoking cessation: cluster randomized trial in workplaces in Thailand.
  BMJ (Clinical research ed.) 2020 White JS, Lowenstein C, Srivirojana N, Jampaklay A, Dow WH
• Family monetary incentives as a value-based care model for oral hygiene: rationale and design of the BEhavioral EConomics for Oral health iNnovation (BEECON) trial.
  Journal of public health dentistry 2020 Ramos-Gomez F, White JS, Lindau HE, Lin TK, Finlayson TL, Liu JX, Gansky SA
• Political prioritization and the competing definitions of adolescent pregnancy in Kenya: An application of the Public Arenas Model.
  PloS one 2020 Onono MA, Rutherford GW, Bukusi EA, White JS, Goosby E, Brindis CD
• Heterogeneity in the Effects of Food Vouchers on Nutrition Among Low-Income Adults: A Quantile Regression Analysis.
  American journal of health promotion : AJHP 2020 White JS, Vasconcelos G, Harding M, Carroll MM, Gardner CD, Basu S, Seligman HK
• Peer effects in smoking cessation: An instrumental variables analysis of a worksite intervention in Thailand.
  SSM - population health 2020 Lowenstein C, Dow WH, White JS
• Association of Neighborhood Disadvantage With Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Events Among Refugees in Denmark.
  JAMA network open 2020 Hamad R, Öztürk B, Foverskov E, Pedersen L, Sørensen HT, Bøtker HE, White JS
• Monetary incentives for improving smartphone-measured oral hygiene behaviors in young children: A randomized pilot trial.
  PloS one 2020 White JS, Ramos-Gomez F, Liu JX, Jue B, Finlayson TL, Garza JR, Crawford AH, Helman S, Santo W, Cheng J, Kahn JG, Gansky SA
• Cigarette Pack Prices and Sales Following Policy Changes in California, 2011-2018.
  American journal of public health 2020 Boettiger DC, White JS
• Neighborhood Deprivation and Mental Health Among Immigrants to Sweden.
  Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) 2020 Raphael E, White JS, Li X, Cederin K, Glymour MM, Sundquist K, Sundquist J, Hamad R
• Peer Mentoring and Automated Text Messages for Smoking Cessation: A Randomized Pilot Trial.
  Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco 2020 White JS, Toussaert S, Thrul J, Bontemps-Jones J, Abroms L, Westmaas JL
• The effect of California's paid family leave policy on parent health: A quasi-experimental study.
  Social science & medicine (1982) 2020 Lee BC, Modrek S, White JS, Batra A, Collin DF, Hamad R
• Projected costs of single-payer healthcare financing in the United States: A systematic review of economic analyses.
  PLoS medicine 2020 Cai C, Runte J, Ostrer I, Berry K, Ponce N, Rodriguez M, Bertozzi S, White JS, Kahn JG
• Capsule Commentary on Shapiro et al., Impact of a Patient-Centered Behavioral Economics Intervention on Hypertension Control in a Highly Disadvantaged Population: a Randomized Trial.
  Journal of general internal medicine 2020 White JS
• E-cigarette Product Preferences among Adult Smokers: A Discrete Choice Experiment.
  Tobacco regulatory science 2020 Shang C, Weaver SR, White JS, Huang J, Nonnemaker J, Cheng KW, Chaloupka FJ
• Challenges to generating political prioritization for adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Kenya: A qualitative study.
  PloS one 2019 Onono MA, Brindis CD, White JS, Goosby E, Okoro DO, Bukusi EA, Rutherford GW
• Effects Of Alternative Food Voucher Delivery Strategies On Nutrition Among Low-Income Adults.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2019 Basu S, Gardner CD, White JS, Rigdon J, Carroll MM, Akers M, Seligman HK
• Paid Family Leave Effects on Breastfeeding: A Quasi-Experimental Study of US Policies.
  American journal of public health 2018 Hamad R, Modrek S, White JS
• Monetary incentives for smoking cessation in workplaces.
  The Lancet. Public health 2018 White JS
• Incentives in workplace wellness programmes.
  The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology 2016 White JS
• Does breastfeeding duration decrease child obesity? An instrumental variables analysis.
  Pediatric obesity 2016 Modrek S, Basu S, Harding M, White JS, Bartick MC, Rodriguez E, Rosenberg KD
• Long-term effects of neighbourhood deprivation on diabetes risk: quasi-experimental evidence from a refugee dispersal policy in Sweden.
  The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology 2016 White JS, Hamad R, Li X, Basu S, Ohlsson H, Sundquist J, Sundquist K
• Does the benefits schedule of cash assistance programs affect the purchase of temptation goods? Evidence from Peru.
  Journal of health economics 2016 White JS, Basu S
• Incentivizing health care utilization and health outcomes
  In Handbook of Global Health Economics and Public Policy, Volume 1, edited by R. Scheffler. London, UK: World Scientific Publishing 2016 Dow WH, White JS, Bertozzi SM
• The EARN-Health Trial: protocol for a randomised controlled trial to identify health effects of a financial savings programme among low-income US adults.
  BMJ open 2015 Basu S, Hamad R, White JS, Modrek S, Rehkopf DH, Cullen MR
• The heterogeneous effects of cigarette prices on brand choice in China: implications for tobacco control policy.
  Tobacco control 2015 Li J, White JS, Hu TW, Fong GT, Yuan J
• Intertemporal choices for health
  In Behavioral Economics and Public Health, edited by C.A. Roberto and I. Kawachi. Boston, MA: Oxford University Press 2015 White JS, Dow WH
• Commitment contracts and team incentives: a randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation in Thailand.
  American journal of preventive medicine 2013 White JS, Dow WH, Rungruanghiranya S
• Smokers' strategic responses to sin taxes: evidence from panel data in Thailand.
  Health economics 2013 White JS, Ross H
• The effect of cigarette prices on brand-switching in China: a longitudinal analysis of data from the ITC China Survey.
  Tobacco control 2013 White JS, Li J, Hu TW, Fong GT, Jiang Y
• The unintended consequences of intended pregnancies: youth, condom use, and HIV transmission in Mozambique.
  AIDS education and prevention : official publication of the International Society for AIDS Education 2008 Speizer IS, White JS
• Association between contraceptive discontinuation and pregnancy intentions in Guatemala.
  Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health 2008 Barden-O'Fallon JL, Speizer IS, White JS
• Can family planning outreach bridge the urban-rural divide in Zambia?
  BMC health services research 2007 White JS, Speizer IS
• Managed care rebound? Recent changes in health plans' cost containment strategies.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2004 Mays GP, Claxton G, White J
• The puzzling popularity of the PPO.
  Health affairs (Project Hope) 2004 Hurley RE, Strunk BC, White JS
• Getting along or going along? Health plan-provider contract showdowns subside.
  Issue brief (Center for Studying Health System Change) 2004 White JS, Hurley RE, Strunk BC