Dr. Pearlman received her Ph.D. in Health Policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, with a concentration in quantitative research methods and program evaluation. This twin focus continues to inform her work. As a specialist in applied public health research, Dr. Pearlman is interested in the transfer and translation of peer-reviewed research at the community level. To further this work, Dr. Pearlman holds joint appointments at Brown University and the Rhode Island Department of Health, where she serves as Senior Epidemiologist and is involved in epidemiological research and program evaluation that directly affects the quality and length of life for the Rhode Island population. As a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Dr. Pearlman has over 7 years of experience evaluating the impact of programs to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases and improve preventive health practices.

Dr. Pearlman's substantive research interests are in advancing a deeper understanding of how fundamental causes of disparity, (e.g., socioeconomic position, residential racial segregation) shape underlying determinants of health and illness. She serves on several Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants awarded to the Rhode Island Department of Health to eliminate heath disparities in the following priority areas: breast and cervical cancer screening and management, obesity, and obesity-related chronic diseases. One objective of the obesity prevention grant is to use multi-sector partnerships to develop and implement a community-wide intervention that focuses on environmental determinants of obesity in Central Falls, a Rhode Island city with limited economic resources and a large Hispanic population. An objective of the comprehensive cancer control grant is to assess disparities in type of treatment, and time from diagnosis to treatment by comparing women with newly diagnosed breast or cervical cancer enrolled in Rhode Island's expanded Medicaid program for low-income and uninsured women, to other newly diagnosed breast and cervical cancer patients in the state.
HIV/AIDS is another area where there are continuing disparities in the burden of illness and death. At Brown University, Dr. Pearlman is working with Dr. Sally Zierler, Professor of Medical Science, to examine how coping processes affect the relationship between stressful situations and psychological and immunological well-being in an HIV-infected patient population. Drs. Pearlman and Zierler also have collaborated on research related to racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in HIV prenatal testing and violence toward women.