Danielle Wilfong
Doctoral Student, Department of Human & Organizational Development
Youth & Neighborhood Mapping
Danielle’s research investigates how neighborhood surveillance intersects with law enforcement and policing practices in specific Nashville neighborhoods, and how these interactions impact everyday routines, including getting to and from school, play, and work, thereby influencing their sense of safety and belonging. She is working with Nashville’s Oasis Center to develop and implement a mapping project that will highlight the everyday experiences of black youth in Nashville.
Danielle is a doctoral student in the Community Research and Action program with a specialization in socio-spatial epidemiology. Before coming to Vanderbilt, she earned a bachelor degree in Linguistics from Duke University and a masters degree in Prevention Science and Practice from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has also been a high school English teacher in Shizuoka, Japan and a program associate for a high school mentoring program.
Currently, Danielle works with Dr. Sarah Suiter on her work investigating the role employment plays on women’s physical and mental health outcomes as they transition from residential recovery treatment centers. Her own specific research interests involve understanding the ways social stratification becomes embedded in urban geographies (i.e., racial residential segregation) and community health (i.e., low birth weight). To do this, Danielle uses a mix of analytic methods and theoretical approaches including geographic information systems, agent-based modeling, critical race theory, and intersectionality theory.