Community-Engaged Scholar of Anthropology, Public Health, and Health Policy
ABOUT
Nolan Kline is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Systems in the School of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. His book, “Pathogenic Policing: Immigration Enforcement and Health in the US South,” was released in 2019 and examines the hidden, health-related consequences of immigration enforcement laws and routine police practices. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. He received his PhD in Applied Anthropology and a master of public health (MPH) from the University of South Florida. His research areas broadly focus on health equity and social determinants of health, with particular attention to immigrant policing, intersectional LGBTQ+ Latinx social and political mobilization, and the politics of novel vaccine promotion. Much of his research is informed by theories of biopolitics, critical race theory, and the political economy of health. As an applied medical anthropologist, his work intersects with public health, policy, and activism.
RESEARCH
Current Projects
IMMIGRANT POLICING
These studies examine the multiple health-related consequences of immigration enforcement laws, police practices, and other related policies. Field sites include Atlanta, Georgia, and Orlando, Florida.
SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HPV AND HPV PREVENTION
These studies fall into two categories. One set of studies is the result of a team science effort focused on how to involve dental providers in HPV-prevention. Another set of studies examines social determinants of HPV-related prevention efforts, including examining how farm labor constrains HPV vaccination for children of Latinx migrant farmworkers. Study sites are nationwide for providers and in Central Florida for farmworker-related studies.
LGBTQ+ LATINX ACTIVISM IN ORLANDO
Studies related to this topic focus on efforts to advance health equity and political and legal rights among individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ and Latinx. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation.
STRUCTURAL FACTORS SHAPING COVID-19 VACCINE INEQUALITIES
These studies examine how large scale social and political forces impact COVID-19 vaccination inequalities. Using a community-based research perspective, current studies have included an NIH-funded effort through the Community Engagement Alliance against COVID-19 (CEAL) to examine how Latinx people with precarious immigration statuses, Latinx sexual and gender minorities, and Latinx people who can get pregnant, encounter unique and hidden barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in North Texas.
TEACHING
COMMUNITY-BASED PEDAGOGY
I teach a number of community engagement courses where students work collaboratively with community-based organizations to respond to pressing social problems.
UNDERGRADUATE
PUBLIC HEALTH GRAND ROUNDS
Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a longstanding medical teaching tradition, students in my global health courses design their own collaborative undergraduate public health grand rounds projects.
“Pathogenic Policing tells an important story that we all need to hear. The pipeline from local policing to deportation does not just remove unauthorized immigrants for petty traffic offenses. It frightens them, their families, and neighborhoods—indeed, this is a major cause of family separation—leading to self-denial of needed health care, a serious burden on communities. Kline’s explanation of these connections is clear, well-supported, and passionate; this is a vital book.”
-Josiah Heyman, co-editor of The U.S.-Mexico Transborder Region: Cultural Dynamics and Historical Interactions
