The Samuel DuBois Cook Center is a scholarly collaborative that studies the causes and consequences of inequality and develops remedies for these disparities and their adverse effects.
Faculty Affiliates Loneke Blackman Carr, Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut, and Kristen Cooksey Stowers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences at Duke University, recently co-authored a new paper. The study highlights…
Cook Center core faculty, Nancy MacLean, published an op-ed in the News & Observer titled “Duke leadership is letting down higher ed in a moment it should be fighting back.” In the piece, MacLean warns that American higher education is facing “the gravest menace to its mission in our history,” citing the Trump administration’s reported…
Faculty Affiliate Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, Professor of Population Health Sciences at Duke University, recently contributed two publications. She authored an op-ed in Health Affairs examining how Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) budget surge has created a growing public health crisis, highlighting the consequences of prioritizing detention spending over community health. In addition, Dr. Brinkley-Rubenstein co-edited the…
Faculty Affiliate Carliss Chatman, Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, was quoted in a story by Marketplace examining how companies are quietly rebranding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The article explores how some corporations are scaling back or reframing public-facing DEI language amid political scrutiny. And, that the broader landscape is more nuanced…
February 20, 2026 — A new first-of-its-kind study of nearly 3,000 adults in New York City finds significant inequities in wealth and health outcomes across the 11 most common racial and ethnic groups, showing that Black and Latino New Yorkers have less wealth and unfairly worse health outcomes compared to others. Conducted in June 2024 by…
Faculty Affiliate Omer Ali is an Assistant Professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, and previous postdoctoral fellow a the Cook Center. Ali is the lead researcher on a new article published in Regional Science and Urban Economics this month examining the relationship between race and home values in Durham, North Carolina. The study…
