Policy Fellow

Olivia Neff is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at Purdue University whose research explores how workplace policies influence access to health and may help mitigate inequality. She is particularly interested in which workplace policies facilitate access to preventative care for those who need it most, with attention to disparities across race, gender, and income. Her dissertation examines variation in paid sick leave policy design and implementation across states and how these differences shape awareness and use of leave for health-related needs. Olivia’s broader work includes a variety of projects on family leave and sick leave, childhood adversity, diabetes, mental and physical health, and food insecurity. She has experience with survey design, in-depth interviews, grant writing, and data analysis. She also has professional experience at the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and currently serves as a research assistant at the Methodology Center at Purdue, where she helps coordinate NIH-funded training initiatives and interdisciplinary methods programming.