Michelle Smirnova, Phd

Michelle Smirnova is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University and the inaugural Director of the Center for Housing and Neighborhoods at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. 

As an educator, writer, and community organizer, Dr. Smirnova seeks to reveal and dismantle structural roots of inequality—specifically in the domains of housing, health, and the criminal justice system. Her work co-creates knowledge with those who experience systemic harms, translating critical sociological insight into effective policy and practice.

Her critically-acclaimed first book, The Prescription-to-Prison Pipeline: The Medicalization and Criminalization of Pain (Duke 2023), explores the upstream causes of health inequality. The book traces how criminalization and medicalization reframe social problems—such as housing insecurity, unemployment, and family separation—as individual deficits rather than structural violence. In the book, she offers structural policy solutions that address these pressing issues.

In her second book, Tenant Power: The Fight for Housing Justice (Princeton 2027), argues that tenant organizing reflects the emergence of a new political class capable of transformative change. You can read more about both books on the Books page. Most of her other research has been published as peer-reviewed articles, but Dr. Smirnova has also appeared in public outlets like NPR, The Washington Post, and The Hill.

In addition to these roles, Dr. Smirnova works as a research fellow for the Frameworks Institute and has served on municipal boards, including Houston/Harris County Housing Advisory Committee and Homelessness Fund Advisory Committee in Houston and the Kansas City Community Land Trust and The Kanas City Public Library while in Kansas City. Previously, she worked at the US Census Bureau.

Dr. Smirnova earned her BA from Washington University in St. Louis in Psychology and International Studies and her MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park.