Tonya Farrow-Chestnut

Tonya Farrow-Chestnut, Ph.D., is a data and research analyst with specializations in quantitative and qualitative methods, spatial statistical analysis, network analysis, geographic information systems (GIS) and social/spatial epidemiology. Currently she applies her unique skillsets consulting with the NCDP 12th Congressional District Chair on voter registration and performs precinct analysis.

Prior to applying her skills to voting rights and upcoming congressional, state, and local apportionment and redistricting processes, she was the Research Manager for The “How We Rise” project – a novel multi-city multimillion dollar project from the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion initiative at Brookings.

Prior to Brookings, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in the Geography and Earth Sciences Department where she authored Environmental Justice (EJ), Social Vulnerability and Cascading Disasters white papers and assisted in the development of CHASMS conceptual model of cascading disasters and social vulnerability framework during Covid-19 resulting in publication. Her postdoctoral fellowship responsibilities included teaching Environmental Planning.

Previous to her postdoctoral fellowship appointment, she was an instructor in the Geography and Earth Sciences Department at UNCC where she taught Geography of Global Economy, Patterns of World Urbanization, and Global Connections. Preceding her teaching assignments, Dr. Farrow-Chestnut was a transdisciplinary health geography research assistant in the Public Health Sciences Department at UNCC. She was the lead researcher for the U.S. NC Medicaid CAHPS Survey Project, a quantitative survey of the NC Medicaid adult and child populations on their access to, satisfaction with, and utilization of health care provided by Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC).

Dr. Farrow-Chestnut owes her love for research to the UNCC Charlotte Action Research Project (CHARP) where she assisted the Founding Director in developing mixed methods and community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches involving community participants. Her tenure as a research assistant for CHARP and the Metropolitan Studies program provided opportunities to design efficacious CBPR projects ranging from Charlotte Midtown Morehead Cherry Small Area Planning participant observations and content analysis; Crossroads Charlotte/Freedom School/First Gen Student programs; Camp Green Neighborhood Canvas and Asset Mapping, to Charlotte Affordable Housing Market Analysis.

Dr. Farrow-Chestnut received her PhD in Urban and Regional Analysis at UNCC. Her dissertation scholarship focused on geospatial patterning of health risks and adverse outcomes applying a novel quantitative network approach, and exploratory spatial analysis to describing associations between comorbidities, cardiovascular disease, diabetes; and identifying inequalities across geographical spaces.