Tia Palermo, Ph.D.

[Currently on leave at UNICEF Office
of Research—Innocenti (Florence, Italy) www.unicef-irc.org]

Education: 

Ph.D., Public Policy, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, (2009)

M.S., Economics, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill (2005)

B.A., Economics and Spanish, State University of New
York at Geneseo (2002)

Research Interests: 

Social policy, economic empowerment and linkages
to health, violence and well-being

Recent Presentations:

1. “Impact
Evaluation of a Tanzanian Conditional Cash Transfer (TASAF III/PSSN) on Youth
Well-being and the Transition to Adulthood: Preliminary Baseline Findings.”
Presented to Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) Mission. Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania: January 2016.

2. “Impacts of
a national government’s social cash transfer program on violence against
adolescent girls and boys.” (with Zambia CGP Evaluation Team). Research from
The Transfer Project at UNICEF's Office of Research - Innocenti. Presented
at Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Forum, Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 17, 2015.

3. “Effect
of education on women’s experience of intimate partner violence: Universal
Primary Education as a natural experiment in Malawi and Uganda.” (with Amber
Peterman & Julia Behrman). Research from a grant to Stony Brook University
from SVRI/South Africa Medical Research Council (MRC). Presented at Sexual Violence Research Initiative
Forum, Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 16, 2015

4. “Impacts of a national government’s social cash transfer program on violence against adolescent girls and boys.” (with Zambia CGP Evaluation Team). Research from The Transfer Project at UNICEF's Office of Research - Innocenti. Presented at Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum, Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 17, 2015.

5. “Effect of education on women’s experience of intimate partner violence: Universal Primary Education as a natural experiment in Malawi and Uganda.” (with Amber Peterman & Julia Behrman). Research from a grant to Stony Brook University from SVRI/South Africa Medical Research Council (MRC). Presented at Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum, Stellenbosch, South Africa, September 16, 2015.

Current Research Projects: 

1. “Identifying the casual effect of
education on adult women’s experience of intimate partner violence and forced
sex in Malawi and Uganda.” 9/1/2014-8/31/2015. Role: co-PI. Collaborators:
Julia Behrman (New York University) and Amber Peterman (University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill). Building Evidence for Primary Prevention of Intimate
Partner and Sexual Violence in Low and Middle Income Countries RFP, Sexual
Violence Research Initiative, Medical Research Council (MRC) South Africa.
Project Funding $55,000.

2. NICHD R03HD073461 Palermo (PI). 3/1/13-2/28/15. “Experimental
evidence and validation of measures on gender-based violence.” National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of
Health (NIH). Project Funding $157,000.
Collaborators: Amber Peterman
(University of North Carolina) and Amelia Hoover Green (Drexel University).

Description: The adverse public health effects of gender-based
violence include increased exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STIs),
gynecological fistula, unwanted pregnancy, psychological sequelae, chronic
pain, physical disability, and depression and substance abuse. Additionally,
there are negative social and economic impacts, including costs of medical
treatment and lost worker productivity, of gender-based violence on survivors
and their families. Stakeholders including policymakers and community
organizations often seek to estimate the prevalence of sexual and intimate
partner violence in an effort to garner support to address it or to more
accurately tailor interventions. Prevalence of gender based violence is often
estimated, but many existing estimates have severe limitations. A two-part
study will be conducted to address these issues. In the first part we will
analyze recent data from 23 countries using Demographic and Health Surveys, and
in the second part we analyze new data from an original, randomized-design
survey in Uganda. The aims of our study are to (1) quantify bounds for
underestimation in existing estimates of gender-based violence, including
sexual violence in conflict, based on police reports and medical facility-based
studies; (2) depict how women who report to medical, legal and social
institutions after experiencing violence differ from women who do not seek care
or report to better understand which groups are more likely to be included in
current estimates of gender-based violence prevalence; and (3) test the effects
of questionnaire design and fieldwork implementation on women’s reporting of
sexual violence using a randomized design.

3. “Identifying the casual effect of education on adult women’s
experience of intimate partner violence and forced sex in Malawi and Uganda.”
9/1/2014-8/31/2015. Role: co-PI. Collaborators: Julia Behrman (New York
University) and Amber Peterman (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).
Building Evidence for Primary Prevention of Intimate Partner and Sexual
Violence in Low and Middle Income Countries RFP, Sexual Violence Research
Initiative, Medical Research Council (MRC) South Africa. Project Funding $55,000. 

Select Current Research: 

1. “Identifying
the casual effect of education on adult women’s experience of intimate partner
violence and forced sex in Malawi and Uganda.” 9/1/2014-8/31/2015. Role: co-PI.
Collaborators: Julia Behrman (New York University) and Amber Peterman
(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). Building Evidence for Primary
Prevention of Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence in Low and Middle Income
Countries RFP, Sexual Violence Research Initiative, Medical Research Council
(MRC) South Africa. Project Funding $55,000.

2. NICHD
R03HD073461 Palermo (PI). 3/1/13-2/28/15. “Experimental evidence and validation
of measures on gender-based violence.” National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Project Funding
$157,000.
Collaborators: Amber Peterman (University of North Carolina) and
Amelia Hoover Green (Drexel University).

Select Publications 

Palermo T, Handa S,
Peterman A, Prencipe L, on behalf of the Zambia CGP Evaluation Team. “Unconditional Government Social Cash Transfer
in Africa Does not Increase Fertility.” UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti
Working Paper. WP-2015-09. Florence, Italy. http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/785

De Groot R, Palermo T, Handa S, Ragno LP, Peterman A. (2015). Cash Transfers
and Child Nutrition: What We Know and What We Need to Know. UNICEF Office of
Research – Innocenti Working Paper. WP-2015-07. Florence, Italy.
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/782

Handa S, Palermo T, Rosenberg M, Pettifor A,
Tucker Halpern C, Thirumurthy H. (2016). “How does a national poverty program
influence sexual debut among Kenyan adolescents?” Global Public Health, online ahead of print: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17441692.2015.1134617

Kidman R and Palermo T. (2015). Orphanhood disparities in child sexual violence: Evidence from thirteen countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Child Abuse & Neglect (in press).

Peterman A, Bleck J, Palermo T. “Early and often: Age of initiation among women experiencing intimate partner violence and implications for programming.” Journal of Adolescent Health (in press).

Kidman R, Palermo T, Bertrand J.  (2015). “Intimate Partner Violence and Contraceptive Use in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the influence of community-level factors.” Social Science & Medicine (in press).

Shah C*, Griffith A*, Ciera J, Palermo T,
Zulu EM. (2015). “Equity and Achievement in Access to Contraceptives in East
Africa between 2000 and 2010.” International
Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics (in press).

Palermo T, Infante Erazo M, Hurtado
V.  (2015). “Women’s opinions on abortion
in Chile and trends over time.” Culture, Health & Sexuality (in press).

Peterman A, Bleck J, Palermo T. (2015).
“Age and Intimate Partner Violence: An
Analysis of Global Trends Among Women Experiencing Victimization in 30 Developing
Countries.” Journal of Adolescent Health, 57(6): 624-630.

Palermo T, Peterman A &
Bleck J*. (2014). “Tip of the iceberg: Reporting and gender based violence in
developing countries.”American Journal of Epidemiology, 179(5): 602-612.

Dowd JB, Palermo T, Chyu L, Adam E, McDade TW. (2014).  “Socioeconomic status, stressful life events
and immune function in Add Health.” Social Science & Medicine (in press).

Pichardo M*, Arribas L, Heredia G, Coccio E, Jagroep S*, Palermo
T. (2014). “IUDs as EC? Patient acceptability of the Intrauterine Device as
Emergency Contraception: Evidence from Buenos Aires, Argentina.” Contraception,
90(5): 522-528.

Clouston S, Kidman R, Palermo T. (2014). “Social inequalities in
vaccination among children aged 0-5 in Madagascar: The impact and importance of
considering parental SES.” Vaccine, 32(28): 3533-3539.

Palermo T, Bleck J*, Westley E. (2014). “Knowledge and use of
emergency contraception: A multi-country analysis.” International Perspectives in Sexual and
Reproductive Health, 40(2): 79-86.

Westley E, Kapp N, Palermo
T, Bleck J*. (2013). “A review of global access to emergency
contraception.” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics,
123(1): 4-6.

Peterman A, Ng SW, Palermo
T, Lee IH. (2013). “Pregnancy, postpartum and time allocation: How
does the lifecycle affect women’s labor-intensive activities in rural China,
Mexico and Tanzania?” Studies in Family Planning, 4(4).

Dowd JB, Palermo T,
Brite J, McDade TW, Aiello A. (2013). “Seroprevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus
Infection in U.S. children ages 6-19, 2003-2010.” PLoS ONE, 8(5),
e64921.

Palermo T, Rawat R, Weiser SD,
Kadiyala S. (2013). “Food security is correlated with health-related quality of
life outcomes among PLWH in Uganda.” PLoS ONE 8(4): e62353.

Palermo T & Dowd JB. (2012).
“Childhood obesity and human capital accumulation.” Social Science &
Medicine, 75: 1989-1998.

Palermo T (Corresponding Author),
Kenya OVC-CT Evaluation Team. (2012). “The impact of the Kenya Cash Transfer
Program for Orphans and Vulnerable Children on Household Spending.” Journal
of Development Effectiveness, 4(10): 9-37.

Parente V*, Hale L, Palermo
T. (2012). “Association between Breast Cancer and Allostatic Load by
Race: NHANES 1999-2008.” Psycho-Oncology, Published online ahead of
print 31 January 2012.

Dowd JB, Palermo T,
Aiello A. (2012). “Family poverty is associated with cytomegalovirus antibody
titers in U.S children,” Health Psychology, 31(1): 5-10.

Palermo T & Peterman A.
“Undercounting, overcounting, and the longevity of flawed estimates: Statistics
on sexual violence in conflict.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization,
89(11).

Peterman A, Palermo T,
Bredenkamp C. (2011). “Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:
Population-based estimates and determinants.” American Journal of Public
Health, 101(6).

Campbell P, Handa S, Moroni M, Odongo S, Palermo T. (2010). “Assessing the ‘orphan effect’ in determining
development outcomes for children in 11 Eastern and Southern African
countries.” Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 5(1): 12-32.

Schiavon R, Collado ME, Troncoso E, Soto Sánchez JE, Otero
Zorrilla G, Palermo T. (2010).
“Characteristics of private abortion services in Mexico City after
Legalization.” Reproductive Health Matters, 18(36): 127–135.

Palermo T, Wilson K, Garcia S,
Diaz-Olavarrieta C. (2010). “Public opinions on abortion, women’s roles, and
reproductive health issues in Tlaxcala, Mexico.” Salud Publica de Mexico,
52(1): 52-60.

Palermo T, Peterman A. (2009).
“Are female orphans at risk for early marriage, sexual debut and teen
pregnancy?: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.” Studies in Family Planning,
40(2): 101-112.

Diaz-Olavarrieta C, Paz F, Abuabara K, Martinez Ayala HB,
Kolstad K, Palermo T. (2007). “Abuse
during pregnancy in Mexico City.” International Journal of Gynecology &
Obstetrics, 97(1): 57-64.

*Student collaborator

Honors, Awards & Affiliations: 

• Member: Population
  Association of America, 2006-Present
• American Public Health
  Association, 2012-Present
• NICHD Fellowship,
  Carolina Population Center, UNC-Chapel Hill (2004-2005)

Research Blog Posts

 Palermo,
T. (February 2016). UNICEF Connect. Cash Transfers and Fertility: new evidence
from Africa. https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/cash-transfers-and-fertility-new-evidence-from-africa/

Palermo, T. (December 2015). More on cash
transfers for adolescents and HIV. Center for Global Development Blog. http://www.cgdev.org/blog/more-cash-transfers-reduce-hiv-among-adolescents

Palermo, T.
(2015). Evidence from Africa shows cash transfers increase school enrollment. UNICEF
Connect. http://blogs.unicef.org/2015/02/20/evidence-from-africa-shows-cash-transfers-increase-school-enrollment/

-Re-posted 148 times on social media

Palermo, T.
(2013). “Global Study of Rape Survivors Confirms our Worst Fears.” Women Under
Siege blog entry, February 8, 2012. http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/global-study-of-survivors-of-gender-based-violence-confirms-our-worst-fears

 Palermo,
T. (2012). “When the numbers don’t add up:
Researchers and media struggle with stats on sexualized violence.” Women Under
Siege blog entry, February 8, 2012. http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/researchers-and-media-struggle-with-stats-on-sexualized-violence

Research Briefs:

Tip of the Iceberg: Reporting and Gender-based violence in developing countries, March 2015

Estimates and Determinants of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, May 2011