Hannah Chimowitz

Biography

Hannah Chimowitz joined NELP as a Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst in 2023. As a member of NELP’s Work Equity team, Hannah explores the impact of occupational segregation on individuals with criminal records and Black women workers. Her research and advocacy aims to elucidate and address the drivers and dimensions of occupational segregation, focusing on the root causes of racial and gender inequities as well as the collateral consequences of criminal records.

Hannah brings more than eight years of experience conducting impact-centered research spanning the criminal legal system, housing and homelessness, and health care. She holds a PhD in social psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where her largest program of research investigated the impact of ban-the-box policies in higher education. Before attending graduate school, Hannah spent three years working at OpenNotes, a national nonprofit that advocates for transparently sharing health care visit notes with patients and their caregivers. There, she played a key role in initiating research on open mental health visit notes.

Hannah’s research has been published in the Law & Society Review, Social Work, Journal of Mental Health, and BMJ Quality & Safety, and her work has been featured by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office and Psychology Today.

Education

PhD, Social Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst