New York University (NYU) associate professor, David Abramson, is the founding director of NYU’s program on population impact, recovery and resilience (PiR2) and a faculty member of NYU’s College of Global Public Health. Previously, Abramson was the deputy director at Columbia University’s National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute. Abramson has led a number of research studies examining the long-term impacts of disasters on communities and on vulnerable populations, including work after Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy and after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Abramson has recently conducted a National Science Foundation-funded RAPID study of the Zika virus and risk perception, and is presently conducting a National Institutes of Health-funded recovery study of Katrina survivors. He co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine’s Standing committee on rapid disaster science.
In addition to the disaster recovery work related to Katrina, Sandy, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Abramson has studied short-term post-tornado community recovery in Joplin, Missouri, disaster recovery planning in four mid-sized U.S. cities, risk communication strategies, and organizational and attitudinal aspects of disaster preparedness. Prior to entering the field of public health, Abramson spent a decade as a national magazine journalist, having worked at or written for such publications as Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Outside magazines, among others. He has a PhD in sociomedical sciences, with a sub-specialization in political science, and an MPH, both from Columbia University.