Scholarship and Biography
Dr. Ilhom Akobirshoev is the Director of Research at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy and a Research Scientist at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. His research investigates disability-based disparities in health, healthcare access, costs, and outcomes among people with various disability types. He examines the intersections of disability, race/ethnicity, poverty, and other marginalized identities that compound health risks. His rigorous quantitative methods research has broken ground in documenting inequities affecting understudied disability groups.
Dr. Akobirshoev has authored over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles on topics related to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes and hospitalization costs among mothers with intellectual and developmental disabilities, racial and ethnic disparities in health care access of children with special health care needs, pregnancy and birth outcomes of women with intellectual and developmental disabilities, health disparities and outcomes among people with disabilities across the lifespan including children, adverse maternal outcomes among women with disabilities, and the impact of COVID-19 on health access for people with disabilities.
His scholarship has earned prestigious recognition, including the 2023 HCUP Outstanding Research of the Year Award, the 2022 National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers Best Paper Award, and the 2021 Charles E. Gibbs Leadership Prize for Best Paper in Women's Health Issues.