University of Richmond Professor Receives NIH Funding to Study the Impacts of Public Policy on Immigrant Family Well-being

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND ─ Lilla Orr, assistant professor of data science and statistics at the University of Richmond, has received funding from the National Institutes of Health for a project focusing on the well-being of immigrant families.

“Navigating the healthcare system in the United States is never easy, but public policies at every level of government end up making care more or less accessible,” said Orr. “Immigrant families often face especially complex constraints on health coverage, which can impact short- and long-term well-being.”

In partnership with the Immigrant Policy Lab at Stanford University, Orr will take a lead role on an analysis of nationwide Medicaid claims. The project also includes collaboration with researchers at Duke University and Oregon Health Sciences University.

“This NIH project will be an important step toward establishing an evidence base for understanding intergenerational health impacts of health insurance coverage and immigration policy,” Orr said. “Every child should have a healthy start to life. We hope public policy will always push us in this direction, and we should know when it does or does not.”

Orr received a Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 2021 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University before joining the faculty at the University of Richmond. 

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