Michael R. Kramer, PhD

EducationMichael Kramer in red shirt with glasses on.

  • BA, Human Development & Social Relations, Earlham College
  • MMSc, Physician Assistant, Emory University
  • MS, Emergency Medicine, Alderson-Broaddus University
  • PhD, Epidemiology, Emory University

Research Interest

Dr. Kramer is a social epidemiologist and population health scientist with interest in how social, geographic and place-based factors—including the historical, economic, and cultural attributes of rural communities— shape health-relevant opportunities and experiences, and ultimately are biologically embodied to shape population health. With broad interest in non-communicable disease, and particular interest in maternal, perinatal, and child health, his work seeks to unpack how individuals and families interact with local and regional health, social, and economic systems to produce population health patterns.

Selected Publications

  • Kramer MR, Labgold K, Zertuche AD, Runkle J, Bryan M, Freyman GR, Austin D, Adams K, Dunlop AL. Severe maternal morbidity in Georgia, 2009-2020. Journal of Medical Care. 2023;61(5):255-7.
  • D’Souza RR, Cooper HLF, Change H, Rogers E*, Widen S*, Blake SC, Kramer MR. Person-centered hospital discharge data: Essential existing infrastructure to enhance public health surveillance of maternal substance use disorders in the midst of a national maternal overdose crisis. Annals of Epidemiology. 2024;94:64-71.
  • Barrera CM, Kramer MR, Merkt PT, Petersen EE, Brantley MD, Eckhaus L, Beauregard JL, Goodman DA. County-Level Associations Between Pregnancy-Related Mortality Ratios and Contextual Sociospatial Indicators. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2022;139(5):855-856.
  • Merkt PT, Kramer MR, Goodman DA, Brantley MD, Barrera CM, Eckhaus L, Petersen EE. Urban-rural differences in pregnancy-related deaths, United States, 2011-2016. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2021;S0002-9378(21)00144-7.
  • Kramer MR. Editorial: Why History? Explanation and Accountability. American Journal of Public Health. 2020;110(7):933-934.
  • Kramer MR, Strahan AE, Preslar J, Zaharatos J, St. Pierre A, Grant J, Davis NL, Goodman D, Callaghan W. Changing the conversation: Applying a health equity framework to maternal mortality reviews. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2019;221(6): 609.e1–609.e9
  • Kramer MR, Black NC, Matthews SA, James SA. The legacy of slavery and contemporary declines in heart disease mortality in the U.S. South. SSM – Population Health. 2017;3:609-617,
  • Kramer MR, Schneider EB, Kane JB, Margerison-Zilko C, Jones-Smith J, King K, Davis-Kean P, Grzywacz JG. Getting under the skin: Children’s health disparities as embodiment of social class. Population Research and Policy Review. 2017;36:671-697.
  • Cunningham S, Kramer MR, Narayan V. Incidence of Childhood Obesity in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine. 2014;370(5):401-9.
  • Kramer MR, Dunlop AL, Hogue CR. Measuring women’s cumulative neighborhood deprivation exposure using longitudinally linked vital records: A method for life course MCH research. Maternal and Child Health Journal. 2014;18(2):478-487.
  • Kramer MR, Waller LA, Dunlop AL, Hogue CR. Housing transitions and low birthweight among low-income women: A longitudinal study of the perinatal consequences of changing public housing policy. American Journal of Public Health. 2012; 102(12):2255-61.

Click here to see the full list of Dr. Kramer’s work.

Grants

  • R01DA059182 (NIH/NIDA) Kramer & Cooper MPI – 08/01/24-04/30/28 Substance use in PRegnancy and the mOrbidity Mortality rISk Environment (PROMISE). The purpose of this project is to quantify the contribution of the social, physical, and service “risk environment” on pregnancy related morbidity and mortality among women who use drugs.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Kramer (PI) 09/13/22-09/12/27 ERASE-MM Community Vital Signs Project. This ongoing contract supports the development, piloting, implementation and evaluation of the Community Vital Signs toolkit to 35+ state and territorial Maternal Mortality Review Committees.
  • R01HD109005 Kramer (co-I); Boulet & Carter (MPI) – 06/01/22-05/31/27 Investigating structural maternal health inequities among Black reproductive aged women in Georgia: a mixed methods and multi-level approach. This project combines qualitative methods with population-based quantitative data to better understand how macro social and structural processes (re)produce racial inequities in maternal health in Georgia.
  • R01MD016031 Kramer (co-I); Dunlop & Adams (MPI) – 06/01/20-05/31/25 Minding the gap: a multidisciplinary approach to reducing m maternal health disparities in Georgia. This project described the contribution of individual, facility, neighborhood, and regional factors in severe maternal morbidity, and piloted a trial clinical screening tool for social risk factors in maternal care.
  • R21MD015813 Kramer (co-I); Bailey (PI) – 06/01/21-05/31/23 Historic violence and contemporary racial disparities in birth outcomes. This multi-state retrospective analysis tested the hypothesis that contemporary social reality and experience is shaped in part by the history of where we live by testing the association between place-based history of racialized mob violence (lynching) and contemporary perinatal outcomes.

Professional Involvement

  • Standing member, NIH Social Science and Population Studies B Study Section (SSPB)
  • Society for Epidemiological Research (SER)
  • Society for Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiological Research (SPER)
  • Population Association of America (PAA)

Contact Dr. Michael R. Kramer

kramer_mr@mercer.edu