Departmental Affiliations
Research Interests
Health access and utilization; Patient-centered care; Health professionals cultural competency; Social determinants of health; Political determinants of health; Health Equity; Intersectionality; LGBTQ+ health and health services
Experiences & Accomplishments
Dr. Ellesse Akré completed her BA in Psychology with a minor in African-American Studies from San Diego State University, an MA in Women’s Health from Suffolk University, and a PhD in Health Services Research from the University of Maryland, College Park. Before and during her doctoral studies, for a period of 8 years, Ellesse worked at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. After finishing her PhD in 2020, Ellesse completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Medicine, Health, and Society and the LGBT Health Disparities and Aging and LGBT Health Policy Lab at Vanderbilt University. She then began a faculty position at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine’s Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Ellesse is an interdisciplinary health services researcher and health equity scholar with expertise in understanding and measuring structural racism, sexism, and heterosexism in health care and in health systems, and their causal relationship to access and utilization disparities. Through her scholarship, Ellesse leverages the intersectionality conceptual framework to quantitatively study how social, demographic, and policy contexts shape health and healthcare disparities for Black people, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ older adult communities.
Select Publications
Selected Publications *indicates student/trainee author
McKay, T., Akré, E.L., Henne, J., Conway, A., Gothelf, I., & Kari, N. (2022). LGBTQ+ Affirming Care May Increase Awareness and Understanding of Undetectable=Untransmittable among Midlife and Older Gay and Bisexual Men in the US South. The International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191710534.
Akré, E.L., *Marthey, D.J, *Ojukwu, C, *Ottenwaelder C, Comfort, M, Lorvick, J. (2021). Social Stability and Unmet Health Care Needs in a Community-Based Sample of Women Who Use Drugs. Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology DOI:10.1177/23333928211048640.
*Robertson, L., Akré, E.L., & Gonzales, G. (2021). Mental Health Disparities at the Intersections of Transgender Status, Race, and Ethnicity. LGBT Health. DOI: 10.1089/lgbt.2020.0429
Williams, N.D., Turpin, R. Akré, E.L., Boekeloo, B.O., & Fish, J.N. (2021). Sexual Identity Differences in Mental Health Care Access and Satisfaction: Findings from Nationally Representative Data. Journal of Psychiatric Research. Psychiatric Services. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.202100045
Akré, E.L., Anderson, A.C., Stojanovski, K., Chung, K., VanKim, N. & Chae, D. (2021). Depression, Anxiety and Alcohol Use among LGBTQ+ People During the COVID-19 Pandemic. American Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306394
Turpin, R. Akré, E.L., Williams, N.D., Boekeloo, B.O., & Fish, J.N. (2021). Differences in Health Care Access and Satisfaction Across Intersections of Race/Ethnicity and Sexual Identity. Academic Medicine. DOI: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000004243