Summary
Interpersonal violence affects one in three women and nearly half of all children worldwide. Organized violence also displaces more than 1% of the global population each year. Each form of violence exists within broader systems of inequality, known as structural violence. Despite broad recognition of its harm, how violence functions across global contexts to affect biology, behavior and health over a lifetime remains poorly understood and often unaddressed. To help confront this, Koning studies how violence and stress are socially patterned and contribute to health inequities through biopsychosocial pathways throughout the life course and across generations. She works to promote social justice and human rights as essential components of public health. Her partners include communities, women’s organizations, government agencies and the United Nations. Together, they conduct collaborative research that informs policy and public health practice.
Koning has a background in population health, sociology, human biology and policy research. Her work focuses on the social and biological drivers of maternal and child health; structural violence and social stress; and the health impacts of migration and displacement. She has led or co-led numerous data collection projects using surveys, interviews and ethnographic methods. She applies quantitative methods from biostatistics, epidemiology and quasi-experimental design. Her research spans local, global and cross-border contexts, including Northern Nevada, North America and Southeast Asia.
Course taught
- CHS 701: Social and Behavioral Dimensions of Public Health (MPH course)
- CHS 796: MPH Capstone - Social and Behavioral Health
- CHS 729: Applied Multivariable Statistics in Social and Behavioral Health
Affiliations
Academic
- Faculty Affiliate, Population Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Faculty Affiliate, Department of Gender, Race, and Identity, 夜色视频, USA
- Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
- Research Affiliate, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
- Research Affiliate, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, IL, USA
- Research Affiliate, Center for Demography & Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
- Faculty Affiliate, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Professional
- Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science
- Population Association of America
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
- American Sociological Association (Sections: Medical Sociology)
Sponsored research projects
Current
- 2024: “ Racialized inequities in birth outcomes and maternal health following childbirth: the role of maternal early-life disadvantage, adolescent contexts, and pre-pregnancy stress.” National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21 HD115143). Principal investigator. Total costs to date: $176,255.
Completed
- 2022-2024: “The Health Inequities and Adverse Childhood Experiences Program of Healthy Nevada.” Community Foundation of Northern Nevada. Co-principal investigator (with Joseph Grzymski and Kristin Burgarello).
- 2021-2024: “Understanding and Forging Women’s Empowerment and Health in a Context of Exclusion: Gendered Statelessness and Legal Precarity among Highlanders in Thailand.” Center for Global Health Equity, University of Michigan. Co-principal investigator (with Laura Rozek, Cheryl Moyer, Amanda Flaim, Malee Sitthi Kriengkrai, and Ariya Svetamra). Total costs: $94,800.
- 2020-2023: “Early Origins of Health Disparities: Chronic Inflammation.” National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R21 HD101757). Key personnel, (PI: Thomas McDade). Total costs: $237,000.
- 2020-2022: “Intergenerational Health Impacts of Interpersonal and Community-Based Violence: From Childbirth to Childbearing.” Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (Parent F32), National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F32 HD102152). Principal investigator. Total costs: $201,112.
Selected publications
- Koning, S. M., Adam, E. K., Kapoor, A. & McDade, T. W. (2025). Psychoneuroendocrinology, 171, 107189.
- Read, R. W., Schlauch, K. A., Elhanan, G., Neveux, I., Koning, S. M., Cooper, T. & Grzymski, J. J. (2024). Frontiers in Public Health, 12, 1447008.
- Koning, S. M., Kessler, C. L., Canli, T., Duman, E. A., Adam, E. K., Zinbarg, R., Craske, M. G., Stephens, J. E. & Vrshek-Schallhorn, S. (2024). Psychoneuroendocrinology, 170, 107181.
- Ragsdale, H. B., Butler, M. S., Koning, S. M., Bas, I. N. & McDade, T. W. (2024). American Journal of Human Biology, 36(4), e24053.
- Koning, S. M., Aronoff, J., Chen, S., Hargrove, T., Polos, J. & McDade, T. W. (2024). Annals of Human Biology, 51(1), 2390834.
- Erinoso, O., Watts, T., Koning, S. M., Lu, M., Wagner, K. D. & Pearson, J. L. (2024). Addictive Behaviors, 158, 108104.
- Polos, J., Koning, S. M., Hargrove, T., Kershaw, K. N. & McDade, T. W. (2024). Social Science & Medicine – Population Health.
- Schlauch, K. A., Read, R. W., Koning, S. M., Neveux, I. & Grzymski, J. J. (2024). Frontiers in Psychiatry.
- Koning, S. M., Palloni, A., Nobles, J., Coxhead, I. & Fernald, L. (2024). Genus.
- Koning, S. M., Polos, J., Kershaw, K. N. & McDade, T. W. (2022). American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 62(5), 735–744.
- Polos, J., Koning, S. M. & McDade, T. W. (2021). Social Science & Medicine, 289, 114424.
- Koning, S. M., Flaim, A., Baldiga, L. & Feingold, D. A. (2021). BMC Public Health, 21, 1839.
- Flaim, A., Feingold, D., Ahlquist, D. B., Koning, S. M., Sidonrusmee, P., Rozek, L. & Wisesjindawat-Fink, W. (2021). Journal of Health Science and Alternative Medicine, 3(2), 30–42.
- McDade, T. W., Meyer, J. M., Koning, S. M. & Harris, K. M. (2021). Social Science & Medicine.
- Hunter, L. M., Koning, S. M., Fussell, E., King, B., Rishworth, A., Merdjanoff, A., Muttarak, R., Riosmena, F., Simon, D. H., Skop, E. & Van Den Hoek, J. (2021). Population and Environment, 1–21.
- Koning, S. M., Scott, K., Palta, M. & Conway, J. (2021). Conflict and Health, 15(1), 1–10.
- McDade, T. & Koning, S. M. (2021). Social Science & Medicine.
- Koning, S. M. (2019). Social Science & Medicine, 240, 112557.
- Koning, S. M. & Ehrenthal, D. B. (2019). Social Science & Medicine – Population Health, 8, 100460.
- Diaz, C. J., Koning, S. M. & Martinez-Donate, A. P. (2016). Demography, 53(6), 2005–2030.
- Koning, S. M. (2018). Lessons from the field: Refugees, climate change, and health. Population-Environment Research Network, Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University.
- Koning, S. M. (2014). The Lancet Global Health, 2, S17.
Education
- Ph.D. in Population Health (Epidemiology emphasis), University of Wisconsin-Madison USA, 2018
- M.S. in Sociology (Demography emphasis), University of Wisconsin-Madison USA, 2018
- B.S. in Biology, Wheaton College, Illinois USA, 2008