Professor Findley is a Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health and Clinical Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Findley has used evidence regarding social networking and peer influence on health behavior changes as a basis for developing two child health promotion coalitions in NYC, the Start Right and Asthma Basics for Children coalitions. Under Findley’s leadership, the Northern Manhattan Start Right Coalition has closed the immunization disparity gap for 10,000 Latino and African American children, going from 30% below to above the national and city averages. Her studies document the effectiveness of these strategies to overcome disparities faced by children of immigrant parents. Findley’s team now has additional support from CDC/NIP for immunization studies to test alternative strategies to provide reminders and promote immunizations in alternative community settings, such as through day care programs. Findley’s asthma research involves testing a multilevel intervention (provider, school or center, teacher, parent advocate/peer, community health worker) to stimulate improved asthma management for children. Findley is participating in two national, cross-site analyses aimed at comparing the alternative effectiveness of different elements of asthma education and support programs.

Simultaneously, she has continued her work on migration and health promotion in Africa. In 2002, she launched a program to document the effect of climate variability on migration, development and health in Niono, Mali. The team also has documented the influence of climate variability and its intra-annual manifestation (seasonality) on childhood illnesses. She has brought her expertise on migration and population surveillance to the In-Depth network, for which she serves as an advisor and editor of a forthcoming volume on the application of population surveillance to the study of dynamic migration and health interactions at 13 sites in Africa and Asia.