Kelsey McDonald

Don’t let her PhD in epidemiology fool you. Kelsey is a geographer through and through. Trained first in geography (MA San Francisco State University), she brought those skills to epidemiology (PhD Univ. of Minnesota, School of Public Health). Next, she used those skills with her German (BA in German) in a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Urban Epidemiology (now the Institute for Urban Public Health), University Hospital Essen, Germany. Clearly a creature of the liberal arts, she enjoys teaching at Macalester and has taught several courses, including Health GIS, Intro to GIS, and Epidemiology.

In her research, Kelsey pursues questions relating to health and space, from the potential effect of neighborhood greenspace on diabetes to measuring individual exposure to air pollution.

If she isn’t around campus, you might find Kelsey out exploring along (and in) waterways, shooting macro photographs, crafting creative non-fiction essays (nothing publishable yet), or – pandemic allowing – traveling!