Elizabeth Joanne Gifford PhD

Beth Gifford

Core Faculty

Elizabeth Joanne Gifford, PhD

Degrees

PhD, Pennsylvania State University

MS, Pennsylvania State University

Beth Gifford is a research professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy, a core faculty member of the Center for Child and Family Policy and the Margolis Center for Health Policy. She leads a multidisciplinary research team that examines the health and social services engagement of children and families. Motivating her research is the need to understand how social policies and practices can better support children and families. Her work spans many public institutions including education, social services, criminal justice, and health care systems. She is the Director of the Health Policy Certificate Program and the Health Policy and Innovation Theme Leader for Bass Connections.

Liu Y, Snyder-Fickler E, Evans K, Gifford EJ. Child Maltreatment Re-report, Substantiation, and Foster Care Placement: A Latent Class Analysis of Child, Caregiver, and Household Risk Factors Across Screened-In and Screened-Out Cases. Child maltreatment. 2026 Aug;31(3):552–67.

He J, Pathak GA, Cabrera-Mendoza B, Qiu D, Zawack K, Steele L, et al. Observational and genetically-informed characterization of Gulf War Illness symptoms in 1990-1991 Gulf War deployed Veterans and non-deployed Gulf War Era Veterans. Environmental health : a global access science source. 2026 Jun;

Pathak GA, Koller D, Cabrera-Mendoza B, Nono Djotsa ABS, Wendt FR, De Lillo A, et al. Unraveling the genetics of gulf war illness in diverse participants enrolled in the million veteran program. Hum Mol Genet. 2026 May 11;35(8).