Kristina Wharton, Ph.D. Faculty Profile

Kristina  Wharton, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Department of Public Health

  • E-mail: kristina.wharton@csueastbay.edu
  • Office: SF 540
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 11am-noon, Wednesdays 2pm-3pm
  • Home Page: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3552-1407
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Kristina Wharton joined the Department of Public Health at CSU East Bay as an assistant professor in 2023. Her teaching and research interests focus on how local, state, and federal policies influence health and well-being. She is particularly focused on promoting equity in access to primary healthcare, mental health care, and substance use prevention and treatment in underserved communities and the impact of legislation including the ACA and, more recently, the CARES Act and ARPA. Kristina is thrilled to be teaching Public Health Law, Health Disparities and Equity, and a Health Sciences (Public Health) Seminar. Currently, Kristina is leading an NIAAA-funded R21 titled, "COVID-19 Telehealth Policies' Impact on Provision of Alcohol and Substance Use Disorder Services at Federally Qualified Health Centers." The objectives are this study are to identify telehealth polices that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic that facilitate access to alcohol and substance use treatment in safety net primary care settings. Her other research examines how policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic influenced environmental conditions and contexts in which early drinking and continued alcohol use occurs among adolescents as well as how COVID-19 alcohol policies influenced adult use, particularly LGBTQ-identified adults. Kristina is also currently working on how state-level anti-transgender bills and laws are affecting trans and gender diverse adults in the U.S.

Prior to joining CSU East Bay, Kristina was a lecturer at San Francisco State University and a postdoctoral fellow in the Prevention Research Science Training Program at UC Berkeley and the Prevention Research Center. Prior to academic service, she worked in and with Federally Qualified Health Centers in multiple states on post-ACA patient-centered care transformation and EHR adoption. She uses qualitative, mixed-methods, multi-level modeling, and policy evaluation methods including difference-in-differences models to investigate these issues of access to care inspired by her career and lived experiences. Kristina received her PhD in Health Policy and Management from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, MPH in Maternal and Child Health from UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health, MPA from North Carolina State University, and BA in Economics from Smith College.

  • Ph.D., Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

Not teaching this semester.

  1. Wharton, M. K., Balassone, A., Thomas, S., Treffers, R., Paschall, M. J., Lam, L., & Lipperman-Kreda, S. (2023). Covid-19 shelter-in-place modified reopening orders, and order compliance impact on adolescent alcohol use and drinking contexts in California: A longitudinal analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 143, 107707.
  2. Wharton, M. K., Islam, S., García-Ramírez, G., Treffers, R., Thomas, S., & Lipperman-Kreda, S. (2023). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning and transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender questioning adult alcohol use outcomes associated with state alcohol-related laws during the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. LGBT Health.
  3. Wharton MK, Islam S, Abadi M, Pokhrel P, Lipperman-Kreda S. COVID-19 Restrictions and Adolescent Cigarette and E-Cigarette Use in California. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published online October 2022:S0749379722004731. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2022.09.014
  4. García-Ramírez G, Islam S, Wharton MK, Grube JW. Associations of California’s Tobacco 21 Minimum Sales Age Law with Tobacco Use Among Sexual Minority Adolescents: A Trends Analysis. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 2022;24(11):1834-1839. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntac134
  5. Islam S, Thompson K, Abadi M, Wharton K, Lipperman-Kreda S. “I don’t know whose mouth has been on this”: youth nicotine and cannabis vaping practices in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health. 2022;22(1):1808. doi:10.1186/s12889-022-14201-w
  6. Lipperman-Kreda S, Islam S, Wharton K, Finan LJ, Kowitt SD. Youth tobacco and cannabis use and co-use: Associations with daily exposure to tobacco marketing within activity spaces and by travel patterns. Addictive Behaviors. 2022;126:107202. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107202
  7. Wharton MK, Shi L, Eragoda S, et al. Qualitative Analysis of Health Systems Utilizing Non-Face-to-Face Chronic Care Management for Medicare-Insured Patients With Diabetes. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management. 2020;43(4):326-334. doi:10.1097/JAC.0000000000000342
  8. Bazzano A, Wharton M, Monnette A, et al. Barriers and Facilitators in Implementing Non-Face-to-Face Chronic Care Management in an Elderly Population with Diabetes: A Qualitative Study of Physician and Health System Perspectives. JCM. 2018;7(11):451. doi:10.3390/jcm7110451
  9. Bazzano A, Monnette A, Wharton M, et al. Older patients’ preferences and views related to non-face-to-face diabetes chronic care management: a qualitative study from southeast Louisiana. PPA. 2019;Volume 13:901-911. doi:10.2147/PPA.S201072
  10. Monnette AM, Wharton MK, Zhao Y, Fonseca VA, Shi L. Post-ACA Racial Disparity of Eye Examinations Among the U.S. Noninstitutionalized Population With Diabetes: 2014–2015. Diabetes Care. 2019;42(5):e70-e72. doi:10.2337/dc18-1991
  11. Shi L, Wharton MK, Monnette A. Ensuring access to prescription medications in the post-ACA healthcare access landscape: the essential role of FQHCs in the safety net for the underinsured. Am J Manag Care. 2018;24(5 Suppl):S67-S73.
  12. Yeager VA, Wharton MK, Monnette A, et al. Non–Face-to-Face Chronic Care Management: A Qualitative Study Assessing the Implementation of a New CMS Reimbursement Strategy. Population Health Management. 2018;21(6):454-461. doi:10.1089/pop.2017.0196
  13. Yeager VA, Wharton MK, Beitsch LM. Maintaining a Competent Public Health Workforce: Lessons Learned from Experiences With Public Health Accreditation Domain 8 Standards and Measures. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. 2020;26(1):57-66. doi:10.1097/PHH.0000000000000750