Biography

Dr. Hirsch is an interdisciplinary researcher whose work aims to understand the way neighborhoods shape health behavior and disparities. She has primarily worked at the intersections of urban planning, geography, and epidemiology with a focus on built environments and physical activity among adults and older adults. In particular, she has examined the way walkable communities can increase walking for transportation or reduce normal declines in mobility with age. Her current work includes longitudinal examinations of the way neighborhoods change and the subsequent impact that this change has on health. Personally, she is an eager, active walker and a people-focused “urbanophile.”