Email: rminson@wustl.edu

Rachel Garg, MPH is a PhD candidate in the Public Health Sciences program at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. She received her MPH in Epidemiology/Biostatistics from the Brown School in 2018.

Garg works as lead data analyst at the Health Communication Research Laboratory, where she supports multiple NIH-funded research trials. She also leads projects analyzing data from 211 helplines, including Focus-19, a series of over 100 short reports about the social and economic impact of COVID-19, and Calls to Action, a series of customized social needs assessments for community hospitals. Her work has been published in journals such as Annual Review of Public Health, Health Affairs, and American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Research interests: Smoking cessation; social determinants of health; integrating health and social services

Curriculum Vitae
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Published manuscripts

2022

  • Garg R, Croston MA, Thompson T, McQueen A, Kreuter MW. Correlates of smoking discarded cigarettes in a sample of low-income smokers. Addictive Behaviors. 2022, 128, 107237 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2022.107237
  • Garg R, Muhammad SN, Cabassa LJ, McQueen A, Verdecias N, Greer R, Kreuter MW. Transportation and other social needs as markers of mental health conditions. Journal of Transport & Health. 2022, 101357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2022.101357
  • Garg R, McQueen A, Wolff J, Skinner KE, Kegler MC, Kreuter MW. Low housing quality, unmet social needs, stress and depression among low-income smokers. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2022, 101767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2022.101767
  • Grimes LM, Garg R, Weng O, Wolff JM, McQueen A, Carpenter KM, Kreuter MW. Which tobacco quitline services appeal most to low-income smokers? Preventing Chronic Disease. In press.
  • Kreuter MW, Garg R, Marsh A, Thompson T, Caburnay C, Teshome E, Kulkarni S, Tanpattana T, Wolff J, McQueen A. Intention to vaccinate children under 5 for COVID-19: A segmentation analysis among Medicaid parents in Florida. Preventive Medicine. 2022, 106959 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2022.106959
  • McQueen A, Wartts JG, Garg R, Carpenter K, Kreuter MW. Leveling the playing field: Impact of mailing pharmacotherapy to Medicaid smokers. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. In press.
  • Thompson T, Evbuoma-Fike EI, Garg R, McQueen A, Caburnay C, Kreuter MW. Psychosocial correlates of a home smoking ban among low-income smokers: Examination of social support, unmet social needs, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Community Health. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-022-01094-4

2021

  • Garg R, Steensma JT, Luke AA, Huang K, Golla B, Greer R, Joynt Maddox KE. Helpline calls associated with preventable emergency department utilization. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2021;61(5), 729-732 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2021.04.022
  • Garg R, McQueen A, Evbuoma-Fike EI, Kreuter MW. Re-examining phone counseling for smoking cessation: Does the evidence apply to low-SES smokers? Patient Education and Counseling. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2021.11.008
  • Garg R, McQueen A, Roberts C, Butler T, Grimes LM, Thompson T, Caburnay C, Wolff J, Javed I, Carpenter KM, Wartts JG, Charles C, Howard V, Kreuter MW. Stress, depression, sleep problems and unmet social needs: Baseline characteristics of low-income smokers in a randomized cessation trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications. 2021;24, 100857 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conctc.2021.100857
  • Garg R, McQueen A, Wolff J, Butler T, Thompson T, Caburnay C, Kreuter MW. Comparing two approaches to remote biochemical verification of self-reported cessation in very low-income smokers. Addictive Behaviors Reports. 2021;12, 100343 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2021.100343
  • Kreuter MW, Garg R, Li L, McNulty L, Thompson T, McQueen A, Luke AA. How do social needs cluster among low-income individuals? Population Health Management. 2021;24(3), 322-332 https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2020.0107
  • Verdecias N, Garg R, Steensma J, McQueen A, Greer R, Kreuter MW. Expressed and unexpressed social needs in low-income adults in the US. Health & Social Care in the Community. 2021;29(5), e184-e189 https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13265
  • Kreuter MW, Thompson T, McQueen A, Garg R. Addressing social needs in health care settings: Evidence, challenges, and opportunities for public health. Annual Review of Public Health. 2021;42, 329-344 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090419-102204

2020

  • Kreuter MW, Garg R, Thompson T, McQueen A, Javed I, Golla B, Caburnay C, Greer R. Assessing the capacity of local social service agencies to respond to referrals from health care providers. Health Affairs 2020;39(4), 679-688 https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.01256
  • Kreuter M, Garg R, Javed J, Golla B, Wolff J, Charles C. 3.5 Million social needs requests during COVID-19: What can we learn from 2-1-1? Health Affairs Blog. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1377/hblog20200729.432088  
  • McQueen A, Imming M, Thompson T, Garg R, Poor T, Kreuter MW. Client perspective on health coaching: Insight for improved program design. American Journal of Health Behavior 2020;44(5), 591-602 https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.44.5.4

2019

  • McQueen A, Roberts C, Garg R, Caburnay C, Fu Q, Gordon J, Bush T, Pokojski R, Thompson T, Kreuter M. Specialized tobacco quitline and basic needs navigation interventions to increase cessation among low income smokers: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Contemporary Clinical Trials 2019;80, 40-47. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2019.03.009