Health and Wellbeing

The scope of effective health policy necessarily extends beyond encounters with the health care system or the treatment and recovery from illness. HPM faculty conduct research on various aspects of this broader scope. These include explorations of:

1. living well in the face of elevated illness threats – such as cancer survivorship, living with chronic but potentially life-threatening conditions such as HIV, and successful aging in the face of multiple morbidities,
2. understanding and shaping the social circumstances that promote healthy child and adolescent development, and
3. understanding the broader impact of social and environmental circumstances on subjective wellbeing.

In contrast to comparable research in social epidemiology, research by HPM-affiliated faculty is designed with a distinctive policy focus, searching for points of leverage for shaping public attitudes, norms, or practices in pro-social ways. These studies are conducted in a variety of settings, both domestic and international.