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Austin Henderson imagePhD (California)

Email austin.henderson@otago.ac.nz
Room 603, 6th Floor, Otago Business School

Dr Henderson is a behavioural and health economist with a focus on identifying scalable interventions to improve public health and health equity.

Prior to joining the University of Otago in 2025, Dr Henderson was a Research Assistant Professor at the Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, where he worked extensively on programs related to health in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. In particular, Dr Henderson was the senior health economist on a large National Institutes of Health funded study of COVID-19 among AI/AN peoples and has authored numerous manuscripts assessing the relationships among COVID-19 infection, job loss, and the social determinants of health, among other topics.

He received his PhD in Behavioural Economics from the University of California San Diego in 2020, and earned his BA in Economics from Pomona College in 2014.

Dr Henderson's research interests include cash transfer programs, Indigenous food sovereignty, the social determinants of health, and healthy aging. Dr Henderson is originally from Spokane, Washington. He is an avid home brewer, cook, and fermenter.

Publications

Henderson, A., Namdul, T., Ferguson, G., London, S., MacLehose, R., & Buchwald, D. (2026). Lessons learned from responses to COVID-19 pandemic in rural, Indigenous, and isolated populations in the US and India: A qualitative study. BMC Health Services Research, 26, 83. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-13719-0 Journal - Research Article

Henderson, A., Uddin, A., MacLehose, R., Manson, S. M., & Buchwald, D. (2025). Relationships among COVID-19 contraction, job loss, and food insecurity in American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. Journal of Racial & Ethnic Health Disparities. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s40615-025-02561-z Journal - Research Article

Henderson, A., MacLehose, R. F., Manson, S. M., & Buchwald, D. (2025). Social determinants of health, tribal payments, and probability of contracting COVID-19 in American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. International Journal of Social Determinants of Health & Health Services, 55(1), 46-54. doi: 10.1177/27551938241277130 Journal - Research Article

Taniguchi, T., Williams-Nguyen, J., Muller, C. S., Fyfe-Johnson, A., Henderson, A., Umans, J. G., … Jernigan, V. B. (2024). Pilot study of a heart-healthy food box intervention for Native Americans with uncontrolled hypertension: Methods and results from the Chickasaw Healthy Eating Environments Research Study. Health Education Research, 39, 454-465. doi: 10.1093/her/cyae023 Journal - Research Article

Henderson, A., Fyfe-Johnson, A. L., Dillard, D., Schaefer, K., Todd, M., Muller, C. J., … Rosenman, R. (2024). Trade-offs between accuracy and health outcomes in algorithms for home blood pressure monitoring devices. Health Services Research & Managerial Epidemiology, 11. doi: 10.1177/23333928241253686 Journal - Research Article

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