Dr. Wen You is a Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia. She also serves as the Director of Population Health and Cancer Outcomes Core for UVA’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. You is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech.
Dr. You is conducting research in applied health economics, behavioral economics and health policy design. Her research, teaching and mentoring are positioned at the intersections of health economics, econometrics, public health science, behavioral science and policy.
Dr. You’s current research program focuses on understanding the causes of health disparities through the creative integration of economics within other disciplines. It revolves around two inter-connected research areas that are crucial for improving population health: 1. understanding how individuals make lifestyle behavioral choices and healthcare decisions; 2. evaluating whether or not certain health policies/interventions achieve their goals and investigating how to improve their effectiveness.
Dr. You has served as PI and co-I roles for several NIH, ACS, and USDA funded interdisciplinary research grants and has published over 80 peer reviewed journal papers in economic and interdisciplinary journals including Health Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Journal of Nutrition, Social Science & Medicine, Preventive Medicine and Food Policy etc.
Current Appointment:
Professor of Public Health Sciences
Director, Population Health and Cancer Outcomes Core, UVA Cancer Center
Adjunct Professor, Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, Virginia Tech
Mailing Address:
Email: wenyou@virginia.edu
Expertise:
Health Economics, Applied Microeconometrics, Public Health Sciences, Policy Evaluation, Incentive Design, Economic Evaluation
Selected Honors and Awards:
2021 / 12-Month Certificate Program Completion with Distinction / High-Impact Cancer Research Program / Harvard Medical School Postgraduate Medical Education
2020 / Best Economic Paper Award / Food Safety and Nutrition Section / Agricultural & Applied Economics Association
2019 / Best Economic Paper Honorable Mention / Food Safety and Nutrition Section / Agricultural & Applied Economics Association
2017 / Michael P. O’Donnell Paper of the Year / American Journal of Health Promotion
2014 / Excellence in Applied Research Award / College of Agricultural & Life Sciences / Virginia Tech
2006 / Outstanding Dissertation Award / Agricultural and Applied Economics Association
Selected Publications:
You#, W., Yuan, Y., Boyle, K.J., Michaud, T., Parmeter, C., Seidel, R.W., Estabrooks, P.A. Examining Ways to Improve Weight Control Programs’ Population Reach and Representativeness: A Discrete Choice Experiment of Financial Incentives. Pharmacoeconomics Open. 6(2022): 193-210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41669-021-00310-6.
You#, W., Davis, G.C., Yang*, J. Viewpoint: An Assessment of Recent SNAP Benefit Increases Allowing for Money and Time Variability. Food Policy. 106 (2022):102175.
Zoellner#, J., You, W., Hill, J., Brock, D.J., Yuhas, M., Price, B., Wilson, J., Montague, D., Estabrooks, P. Comparing two different family-based childhood obesity treatment programs in a medically underserved region: Effectiveness, engagement and implementation outcomes from a randomized controlled trial. Pediatric Obesity. 17(2022):e12840. DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12840. DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.12840.
Yenerall, J., You, W., Hill, J. “Beyond the Supermarket: Analyzing Household Shopping Trip Patterns that Include Food at Home and Away from Home Retailers.” BMC Public Health (2020) 20(1):1747. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09882-0.
Davis, G.C., You, W., Yang, Y. “Are SNAP Benefits Adequate? A Geographical and Food Expenditure Decomposition.” Food Policy. (senior authorship is shared between Davis and You). (in press, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2020.101917.
You, W., Davis, G.C. “Estimating Dual Headed Time in Food Production with Implications for SNAP Benefit Adequacy.” Review of Economics of the Household (2019) 17:249-266. DOI 10.1007/s11150-018-9403-7.
Yang, Y., Davis, G.C., You, W. “Measuring Food Expenditure Poverty in SNAP Populations: Some Extensions with An Application to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy (2019) 41:133-152. doi: 10.1093/aepp/ppy004.
Michaud, T., You, W., Wilson, K., Su, D., McGuire, T.J., Almeida, F.A., Bayer, A.L., Estabrooks, P.A. “Cost Effectiveness and Return on Investment of a Scalable Community Weight Loss Intervention.” Preventive Medicine (2017) 105:295-303. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.10.011.
Sun, Y., You, W., Almeida, F., Estabrooks, P., Davy, B. “The Effectiveness and Cost of Lifestyle Intervention including Nutrition Education for Diabetes Prevention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (2017) 117(3):404-421. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2016.11.016.
Capogrossi*, K., and You, W. “Do School Nutrition Programs Influence Child Weight? A Treatment Effect Analysis” Health Economics (2017). 26:980-1000. DOI: 10.1002/hec.3378.
Zoellner, J., You, W., Almeida, F., Allen, KCA., Harden, S., Glasgow, R.E., Linnan, L., Hill, J., Estabrooks, P. “The Influence of Health Literacy on Reach, Retention, and Success in A Worksite Weight Loss Program”. American Journal of Health Promotion (Mar 2016) 30(4): 279-282. DOI: 10.1177/0890117116639558.
Zeng, D., You, W., Mills, B., Alwang, J., Royster, M., Anson-Dwamena, R. “A Closer Look at the Rural-Urban Health Disparities: Insights from Four Major Diseases in the Commonwealth of Virginia” Social Science & Medicine 140(2015): 62-68. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.07.011.
Davis, G., and You, W. (senior authorship shared) “Estimates of Returns to Scale, Elasticity of Substitution, and the Thrifty Food Plan Meal Poverty Rate from A Direct Household Meal Production Function” Food Policy 43(2013):204-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2013.09.002.
You, W., Mitchell, P., Nayga, R. “Improving Food Choices Among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Recipients.” Health Economics. 21(2012): 852-864. doi: 10.1002/hec.1758.
You, W., Almeida, F., Zoellner, J., Hill, J., Pinard*, C., Allen*, K., Glasgow, R., Linnan, L., Estabrooks, P. “Who Participates in Internet-Based Worksite Weight Loss Programs?” BMC Public Health 11(2011):709. Open access at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/709.
You, W., Davis, G. “Childhood overweight: Does quality of parental childcare time matter?” Journal of Family and Economic Issues 32(2011): 219-232.
You, W., Davis, G. “Household Food Expenditures, Parental Time Allocation, and Childhood Overweight: An Integrated Two-Stage Collective Model with an Empirical Application and Test.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 92(2010):859-872.