Nisha Botchwey

A.B., Harvard University;
M.C.P, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Assistant Professor

Dr. Botchwey specializes in community development and neighborhood planning emphasizing local religious and secular institutions and public health promotion. She joined the faculty of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning in the fall of 2003, and teaches undergraduate and graduate neighborhood planning workshops. She also developed Healthy Communities, a graduate seminar exploring the connections between the built environment and health. Dr. Botchwey also co-organized the Department?s Spring Symposia which focus on health and built environment topics.

Dr. Botchwey?s primary research focus is on developing methodologies for religious institutions to revitalize unhealthy communities, places where the physical and social environments do not enable people to maximize their lives. She discusses this emphasis as faculty for the Centers for Disease Control May 2007 National Broadcast of Public Health Grand Round entitled "Healthy Places Leading to Healthy People: Community Engagement Improves Health for All." Her funded research involves two multidisciplinary collaborations with scholars from the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, and with support from the National Institutes of Health and other public and private sources. Her publications are found in a variety of journals including IEEE, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Peer Review, the Journal of Planning Education and Research and Annals of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Botchwey serves on local and national advisory boards and is recipient of numerous awards including being named an NIH Health Disparities Scholar (2005, 2006), Annie E Casey Foundation Junior Scholar (2004) and honored by the Seven Society as an Outstanding Teacher (2007).