Dr. Kasim Ortiz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, with a secondary appointment in Global Health Studies. Dr. Ortiz is a medical sociologist and health disparities scholar whose research investigates how racialized and sexualized social structures shape health inequities across the life course. His work centers on the question: What new evidence emerges when we center sexually dispossessed populations in efforts to eradicate intergenerational racial and ethnic health inequities?

Dr. Ortiz’s research program employs computational, demographic, and community-engaged methods to examine multilevel determinants of health, including a focus on racial capitalism, aging, and the criminal legal system. Dr. Ortiz earned his doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of New Mexico, and holds a Master in Science in Urban Planning from Savannah State University, and a obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of West Georgia.