BMS8016 — Social Determinants of Health
Social and structural factors are estimated to contribute to more than half of all causes of disease and death in the United States, including cancer, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Type 2 diabetes (Litzelman, et al. 2014). These factors range from adherence to physicians’ recommendations for treatment to smoking to policy decisions that powerfully influence (or foreclose) a patient’s access to the healthcare system. This course will: 1) offer students a nuanced understanding of these social and structural factors and their interrelationships; 2) demonstrate how this knowledge helps optimize health outcomes; and 3) prepare students with skills that will promote their own involvement in making meaningful large- and small-scale changes in health equity.