Dean Robinson examines the effects of political and public policy trends on racial health disparities in the United States. His work focuses on patterns and policies that reinforce inequality of social welfare provision and socioeconomic status. In 2001, Dr. Robinson was awarded a two year fellowship as a W.K. Kellogg Scholar in Health Disparities at Harvard University's School of Public Health to pursue his research. As a Family Research Scholar, Dr. Robinson sought funding to design a study to gauge the potential impact of state politics and policy on overall infant mortality, and black-white disparities. The working hypothesis is that features of the local political landscape, like state culture or ideology, party control of state government and various demographic characteristics affect state public policies which directly and indirectly affect infant mortality rates.