PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] – The PSTC congratulates Faculty Associate Jayanti Owens and Xuan Zhang, PSTC alumna and assistant professor of Economics at Singapore Management University for the poster awards they received at this year’s Population Association of America Annual Meeting, held in Austin, Texas in April.

Owens won for "Children Under Pressure: Socioeconomic Status, ADHD Diagnoses, and Future Social and Academic Behaviors." Her research offers a new view of how socioeconomic status may have negative implications for children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study challenges previous findings on the role of socioeconomic status for children with ADHD, and provides a case for better understanding the conditions under which medical adaptation can affect children’s future social and academic behaviors.  

Zhang, now Assistant Professor of Economics at Singapore Management University, won the award for her project "Disruption in Primary Care and Patient Outcomes: Evidence from Physician Retirement." This study examines the effects of primary care physician (PCP) retirement on Medicare beneficiaries. She finds that PCP retirement drives up medical costs and lowers the quality of short-term ambulatory care. However, PCP retirement may result in long-run improvements due to earlier detection of new chronic diseases and higher quality of new PCPs.