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Course Description: Introduces social and structural conditions as key contributors to people’s physical and mental health. Describes unjust and avoidable socioeconomic conditions considered to be the main contributors to health inequities. Meets a growing demand for health professionals to have fundamental knowledge of the social determinants of health, including social isolation and social support; structural/ institutional racism; income inequality; and social and economic policies. Provides an opportunity to develop awareness of the role of social determinants of health in population health; knowledge of the pathways through which they impact health; awareness of the specific ways the health of different populations and demographic groups is impacted; and enhanced evaluation, diagnosis, and communication with patient and clients.

Course Info and Faculty Bio

Course Number: HLTH 5700

Department: Public Health

CRN: 20164

Faculty Bio: Ariel Beccia (she/her) is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. She is also a trainee with the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders (STRIPED) and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) Health Equity Research Collective, both of which are jointly based at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her work focuses on identifying the social and structural determinants of gender- and sexual orientation-based inequities in mental health outcomes, especially eating disorders. She is also interested in developing methods for incorporating intersectionality and other critical feminist theories into quantitative epidemiologic research. Ariel earned her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a B.S. in Neuroscience with a minor in Gender & Sexuality Studies at St. Lawrence University. 

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