About

Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy and a staff physician at the Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. He serves as the Director of the Opportunity for Health Lab. Dr. Venkataramani is a health economist who studies the life-course origins of health and socioeconomic inequality. His current research focuses on elucidating the effects of early life interventions on adult health and well-being, understanding the relationship between economic opportunities and health behaviors and outcomes, and examining the spillover health impacts of social policies. His work spans both domestic and international settings. Dr. Venkataramani completed his MD at Washington University, his PhD in Health Policy (Economics) and Yale University, and his BS in Biology and Economics at Duke University. He completed a residency in Internal Medicine - Global Primary Care at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Medicine
• Machine Learning
• Demography
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Business
• Actuarial science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Psychology
• Economics
• Nursing
• Public administration
• Economic growth
• Finance
• Environmental health
• Virology
• Public economics
• Internal medicine
• Social psychology
• Gerontology

Selected publications

• Area-Level Economic Opportunity Modifies the Income-Health Gradient in the United States

  medRxiv · 2026-03-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract Introduction Economic opportunity is a core pillar of the American Dream but is not distributed equally across communities. Substantial evidence has identified economic opportunity as an independent social determinant of health, but relatively little is known about opportunity’s relationship with other socioeconomic characteristics such as income. Here we address this gap in the literature to examine how area-level economic opportunity modifies the income-health gradient. Methods We used multivariable ordinary least squares models to estimate the association between self-reported health and economic opportunity across household income levels for working age adults (ages 25-64). Our measures of income and health come from the 2010-2019 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements. Our measure of economic opportunity was drawn from Opportunity Insights and represents the county-averaged national income percentile rank attained in adulthood for individuals born to parents at the 25 th percentile of the income distribution. We adjusted for a wide range of individual- and county-level demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Results We find that county-level economic opportunity modified the gradient in self-reported health and household income among working-age adults. Effects were particularly pronounced in the lowest income deciles – an interdecile increase in economic opportunity was associated with closing almost 33% of the gap in health between the lowest and highest income deciles. The results were robust to sensitivity analyses. Conclusion We show that local area economic opportunity flattens the relationship between household income and health, with lower-income individuals benefitting the most from living in high opportunity areas.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Effects Of Labor Unions On Nurse Staffing Ratios And Quality Of Care In US Nursing Homes, 2013–21

  Health Affairs · 2026-03-01

  articleOpen access

  Labor unions representing workers in US nursing homes bargain for higher wages and safer working conditions, which may reduce staff turnover and increase the quality of care. However, if higher labor costs lead employers to reduce nurse staffing, unionization may reduce care quality. We used a difference-in-differences event study design to estimate the effects of unionization on nurse staffing ratios for total nurse staffing and separately for registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nursing assistants (CNAs), as well as the effects of unionization on the quality of care, during the period 2013-21. We found that unionization had no effect on total nurse staffing levels but had opposing effects on RNs and LPNs. Unionization increased LPN staffing by roughly 2.7 nurse hours per day in the average nursing home, but it decreased RN staffing by roughly 3.2 nurse hours per day. Despite this substitution from RNs to LPNs, we found that unionization did not appear to reduce the quality of care, a result consistent with unions increasing nurse productivity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Long Run Economic Effects of Medical Innovation and the Role of Opportunities

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2026-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Using big data to uncover the causes of dementia

  Nature Health · 2026-01-30

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Political Power and Mortality: Heterogeneous Effects of the U.S. Voting Rights Act

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2025-10-01

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We study the health consequences of redistributing political power through the 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act, which eliminated barriers to voting for previously disenfranchised nonwhite populations.The intervention led to broad declines in under-five mortality but sharply contrasting effects in other age groups: mortality fell among non-white children, younger adults, and older women, yet rose among whites and older non-white men.These differences cannot be reconciled by changes in population composition or material conditions.Instead, we present evidence suggesting psychosocial stress and retaliatory responses arising from perceived status threat as key mechanisms.

  PublisherDOI

• Local government expenditure centralization and spatial variation in working-age mortality

  SSM - Population Health · 2025-03-29 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Research finds disparities in local government spending to be one driver of place-based variation in population health outcomes in the U.S. This study asks: net of the amount of local government spending, does the centralization of local government expenditures shape spatial variation in working age mortality? We find that in more centralized local fiscal structures, that is, where the county government performs relatively more of the total local government spending, there is less cross-census tract variation in midlife mortality. In doing so, we reveal how the structure of local government—inherited from history and largely outside the purview of politics and policy discussion—impacts place-based variation of population health outcomes. • There is substantial variation in rates of working age mortality across census tracts within U.S. counties. • Counties where government spending is more centralized exhibit less spatial variation in working age mortality across census tracts. • The fiscal structure of subnational governments is an important determinant of spatial variation in population health.

  PublisherDOI

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Policies and Food Insecurity

  JAMA Health Forum · 2025-12-12

  articleOpen access

  Importance: Food insecurity (FI) is associated with poor health and has risen in the US. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the largest US food-purchasing assistance program. Policies related to eligibility assessment and administrative burden that impact SNAP participation vary between states. How such policies influence FI is not well known. Objectives: To evaluate the association between changes in state SNAP policies and county FI rates. Design, Setting, and Participants: This repeated cross-sectional study used annual county-level FI estimates from the Feeding America Map the Meal Gap dataset, state-level SNAP policy data from the US Department of Agriculture from 2009 to 2019, and data on economic and demographic measures from the US Census Bureau for county residents. Data were analyzed from August 2024 to August 2025. Exposures: Changes in state SNAP policies from 2009 to 2019. Due to incomplete policy data, the analysis was not extended beyond 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: County-level FI rates for individuals. An annual index of SNAP policy adoption was calculated, scaled from 0.1 to 10, with a higher level indicating a greater adoption of policies associated with SNAP participation. G-computation, a robust causal inference methodology, was used to evaluate the association between change in the SNAP index and state-level SNAP participation rates and county-level FI rates. The model accounted for demographic and clinical factors, state and year fixed effects, and baseline SNAP index levels. Results: Of a total of 3143 US counties, 3134 were included in the analysis. A 1-point increase in the SNAP policy index was associated with a 0.7-percentage point (pp; 95% CI, 0.3-1.2 pp; P = .002) higher state-level SNAP participation rate and a 0.1-pp (95% CI, 0.02-0.2 pp; P = .02) lower county-level FI rate from 2009 to 2019. In 2019, an estimated 6.5 million (95% CI, 3.8-9.1 million) fewer individuals would have experienced FI if all states had adopted policies equivalent to the most generous state in each year compared to if all states had adopted policies equivalent to the least generous state. Conclusions and Relevance: In this cross-sectional study, adoption of state-level policies associated with higher SNAP participation was also associated with lower county-level FI rates. Policies that lower barriers to SNAP participation may help address rising FI rates observed in 2022 and 2023.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Heterogeneous and racialized impacts of state incarceration policies on birth outcomes in the United States

  Social Forces · 2025-07-30

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  While state incarceration policies have received much attention in research on the causes of mass incarceration in the U.S., their roles in shaping population health and health disparities remain largely unknown. Merging data on state incarceration policies to vital statistics birth records from 1984-2004, we examine the impacts of two signature state incarceration policies adopted during the "tough on crime" era of the 1990s-three strikes and truth in sentencing-on Black and White birth outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences event study research design that models the dynamic impacts of these policies over time, we find that these policies had opposing effects on birth outcomes. Birth weight outcomes-including mean birth weight and low birth weight-for Black infants worsened markedly in the year three strikes policies were adopted. By contrast, birth outcomes for Black and White infants gradually improved after truth in sentencing policies were adopted. The discordant findings point to distinct, countervailing mechanisms by which sentencing policies can affect population health. We provide suggestive evidence that three strikes policies adversely impacted Black birth outcomes through affective mechanisms, by inducing highly racialized, stigmatizing, and criminalizing public discourse around the time of policy adoption. Our results indicate that truth in sentencing likely impacted birth outcomes via material mechanisms, by gradually reducing community incarceration and crime rates. Altogether, these findings point to the need to further interrogate state criminal legal system policies for their impacts on population health, considering whether, how, and for whom these policies result in health impacts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Public Policies, Social Narratives, and Population Health

  New England Journal of Medicine · 2025-07-26 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Natural Experiments to Inform Clinical Practice

  NEJM Evidence · 2025-04-22 · 2 citations

  review1st authorCorresponding

  AbstractNatural experiments refer to events or practices that result in similar individuals receiving different services or interventions for arbitrary reasons. In the clinical context, researchers may wish to leverage natural experiments to estimate the causal impact of a particular treatment on a health outcome in situations where randomized clinical trial data are unavailable and other observational research designs are likely to yield biased results. This review provides an overview of natural experiments, discusses the potential for natural experiments to establish cause and effect, illustrates applications to specific clinical questions, and outlines situations and practices where natural experiments are most likely to answer the question at hand. Overall, while natural experiments have become popular in health policy, the widespread application of these approaches to specific clinical questions faces several challenges.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Microenterprise to Improve Child Development in Households Exposed to HIV

  NIH · $738k · 2015–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Alexander C. Tsai

  Center for Global Health

  85 shared

• Rourke O’Brien

  53 shared

• Sonia Bhalotra

  University of Warwick

  45 shared

• Zachary Parolin

  The Graduate Center, CUNY

  36 shared

• Brendan Maughan‐Brown

  University of Cape Town

  32 shared

• Selma Walther

  29 shared

• Sonia Bhalotra

  University of Warwick

  26 shared

• Jacob Bor

  University of the Witwatersrand

  25 shared

Education

• M.D.

  Washington University

• Ph.D., Health Policy (Economics)

  Yale University

• B.S., Biology and Economics

  Duke University