Inaugural VCOM-VDH Symposium

Michael R. Kramer, PhD

2025 Keynote Speaker

Beyond the Clinic Walls: Community and Social Determinants of Maternal Health

Michael R. Kramer, PhD, MMSc, MS, is a social epidemiologist and population health scientist with a focus on how social, geographic, and place-based factors—including the historical, economic, and cultural attributes of rural communities—shape health relevant opportunities and experiences, ultimately influencing population health outcomes. His research interests encompass social determinants of health, maternal and child health, and spatial analysis, with a particular emphasis on non-communicable diseases and disparities in maternal, perinatal, and child health. Dr. Kramer earned his PhD in epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in 2009. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a physician assistant, including serving as the director of the emergency department at Sage Hospital on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. He has also held faculty positions at Emory University and Mercer University. In 2024, Dr. Kramer was appointed as the director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities at Mercer University School of Medicine. Under his leadership, the center focuses on implementing community-driven solutions to health disparity issues in rural Georgia, with a federal portfolio addressing maternal and infant mortality reduction, opioid overdose prevention, and chronic disease self management. Dr. Kramer’s work integrates theory and perspectives from sociology, demography, and geography to understand how social processes and exposures become biologically embodied, shaping population health patterns across the life course. He has published over 200 professional journal articles and has received numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching.

Professor of Community Medicine and Director of the Center for Rural Health and

Health Disparities Mercer University School of Medicine