Research Professor Pamela Joshi Inducted into the National Academy of Social Insurance
Pamela Joshi, research professor at Boston University School of Social Work and at the school’s Institute for Equity in Child Opportunity & Healthy Development, is one of 90 experts inducted into the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) this year. With her new membership approved by the NASI Board of Directors, Joshi is recognized for her outstanding contributions to research on social insurance policies.
Joshi’s work focuses on family policies, including child care, paid family and medical leave, and the social safety net, that drive health and well-being outcomes. Her research explores how structural factors such as job quality and administrative factors such as policy eligibility criteria and application complexity shape families’ ability to access and benefit from these policies. Her analyses reveal the extent to which access to policies is equitable by race/ethnicity, immigrant status, and income level. She led the development of the Policy Equity Assessment (PEA) framework, a tool for evaluating racial equity in public policies affecting children’s healthy development.
Joshi conducts her research in partnership with government agencies, policy research organizations, and community-based groups. She currently co-leads a study with UnidosUS on barriers to Hispanic and immigrant families’ access to state-level paid leave benefits, co-leads the Massachusetts Child Care Research Partnership, a state/–university collaboration evaluating innovations in child care subsidy policies, and serves as policy research director for diversitydatakids.org. Her recent research on child care affordability was recently covered in The Boston Globe.
NASI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to understanding how social insurance systems contribute to economic security. As scholars, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and practitioners, NASI members inform social insurance policymaking and shape the field of social insurance. Academy members are nominated by current members in recognition of their significant contributions to the discipline. NASI membership connects leaders across all sectors of social insurance to a diverse community united by a common purpose.
About the National Academy of Social Insurance
Since the National Academy of Social Insurance was founded in 1986, it has provided rigorous inquiry and insights into the functioning of our nation’s social insurance programs – Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, and Workers’ Compensation. Composed of the nation’s top experts in social insurance and related policies and programs, the Academy studies how social insurance will meet the changing needs of American families, employees, and employers. The Academy also looks at new frontiers for social insurance, including areas of uninsured or underinsured economic risks.
Learn more about Professor Pam Joshi’s work