Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia Public Health

Applies social science theories to analyze public health problems and design effective interventions and strategies that prevent disease and promote health.

Sociomedical Sciences is distinguished by its focus on the social determinants of disease and health. The discipline examines the correlation between epidemiological trends and structural inequities - including discrimination, stigma, and poverty - to expose the social causes of public health events. In 1968 the Columbia University School of Public Health became the first institution in the countr

y to offer a graduate degree in the social sciences with a focus on health. What began as a collaborative research project in 1956 involving a physician, an epidemiologist, and a sociologist, evolved over a decade’s time into a formal doctoral program run jointly with the core disciplines in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Jack Elinson, the first divisional head, coined the term “sociomedical science” to incorporate the social sciences of sociology, anthropology, economics, history, political science, and psychology into a multidisciplinary study of health and medicine. From the mid-1950s through the formal establishment of Sociomedical Sciences in 1968, Columbia University’s School of Public Health represented the vanguard of the field in bringing the social sciences to bear on public health problems. A hallmark of the Department in its formative years was a commitment to reaching out to and understanding people within their communities. Thus, from the outset, the Department was informed by the understanding that disease is socially produced. This philosophical orientation strengthened as Sociomedical Sciences expanded its professional and disciplinary scope. The Department’s greatest strength today is its capacity to conduct interdisciplinary health research on leading public health problems, particularly those which disproportionately affect the poor and disenfranchised. At the broadest level, faculty members taking a theoretical and structural approach seek to understand the social production and determinants of infectious, chronic, and environmental disease as well as psychological well-being and health behaviors. Those focusing on policy analysis and development emphasize the history and politics of far-reaching social policy as it involves citizens and the state. Faculty centrally involved in program development and evaluation are deeply engaged with the dynamics of community and local contexts, often viewing health within an ecological framework. Cross-cutting themes include:

- the interplay of structural factors and agency and their intersections with gender,
- sexuality, race, and class;
- the ways in which health is shaped by policy and its historical development;
- cultural underpinnings of health beliefs and behaviors; and
- rapid urbanization and globalization. All of the major schools of public health now stress the social determinants of health and offer programs in the behavioral and social sciences. However, the Department of Sociomedical Sciences stands out in the depth and breadth of its emphasis on the cultural, social, environmental, and, indeed, political forces that produce health and disease in different historical contexts.

11/11/2021

Columbia Public Health is 100!

04/10/2020

To all of the essential workers, healthcare heroes, and those on the front lines of the Covid-19: thank you for keeping us safe during this time of uncertainty. The Columbia community is deeply grateful for your sacrifice and your dedication.

Your Racism Is Showing: Coronavirus and the Racist History of Pandemics

03/20/2020

The history of racism in a time of global pandemics, explained by Columbia Public Health sociomedical sciences professor and historian, Merlin Chowkwanyun.

Your Racism Is Showing: Coronavirus and the Racist History of Pandemics Coronavirus disease, or COVID-19, has traveled across the world, and its numbers—of new infections and deaths—are quite distressing.

Columbia Public Health Now Podcast | Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health

03/18/2020

We launched a podcast! Tune in to our first episode featuring Dr. Stephen Morse, Columbia University Department of Epidemiology professor and director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Certificate Program. Dr. Morse sits down with host Maria O'Brien to discuss the origins of Covid-19 and how we got here.

Columbia Public Health Now Podcast | Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Where people live and work, what they eat, how much they exercise (or don't), these factors all contribute enormously to the health of populations. So does policy, access to healthcare, and much more. Columbia Public Health Now asks Columbia faculty to weigh in on the public health challenges of tod...

Colleges Need to Think Bigger to End R**e on Campus

03/12/2015

SMS Professor Jennifer Hirsch in Time magazine: "The time has come for a public health approach to the ongoing crisis—one that focuses on the social conditions that render students vulnerable to sexual violence."

Colleges Need to Think Bigger to End R**e on Campus Colleges need to take a public health approach to ending campus r**e.

10/25/2014

SMS Professor Jennifer Hirsch writes, in a letter to the NYTimes, "The fact that a potentially effective Ebola vaccine languished for nearly a decade in the 'biotech valley of death' for want of private investment is stunning proof of the limits of market-based solutions to protecting the public’s health."

The Ebola Patient in New York Readers discuss the news that a doctor returning from West Africa is infected with Ebola.

10/06/2014

October 2014

Facing the concussion risks of youth football

09/29/2014

SMS doctoral student Kathleen Bachynski discusses kids, football, & concussions over at philly.com!

Facing the concussion risks of youth football The NFL's recognition of the cognitive risks to players is important. Examining football's potential impact on kids is of even greater importance.

DEBATING E-CIGARETTES: Science, Politics, and Policy

09/25/2014

Pictures from yesterday's spectacular debate on e-cigarettes with SMS Professors Amy Fairchild and Ronald Bayer, and Professors Denise and Eric Kandel.

SMS Food for Thought featuring Professors Denise and Eric Kandel and SMS Professors Amy Fairchild and Ronald Bayer - September 24th, 2014

09/25/2014

SMS Food for Thought featuring Professors Denise and Eric Kandel and SMS Professors Amy Fairchild and Ronald Bayer - September 24th, 2014

Debating E-Cigarettes: Science, Politics, and Policy by Columbia Public Health

09/24/2014

See everyone tomorrow (Wednesday) at this exciting SMS Food for Thought! Refreshments will be available at 11:15am in the lobby area of the 5th floor. The debate is from 11:30am-12:45pm in ARB 532. If you can't make it, check out the livestream, available at the link below. We will also have a livestream running in ARB 923!

Debating E-Cigarettes: Science, Politics, and Policy by Columbia Public Health Watch Columbia Public Health's Debating E-Cigarettes: Science, Politics, and Policy on Livestream.com. The global controversy surrounding e-cigarettes is quickly reaching a fever pitch among scientists, experts, policy makers, and the public. In this compelling debate, four experts will discuss the…

09/13/2014

The first SMS BAGEL BASH of the 2013-2014 academic year!

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Location

New York

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+12123053927

Website

http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/academic-departments/sociomedical-sciences

Address

New York, NY
10032

Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia Public Health

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