Section outline

  • Lecture: Strategic science in health disparities research

    Doing research that has an impact on our understanding of and ability to address health disparities requires being strategic about what research questions to ask and how to disseminate the results. This lecture will provide guidance on how to ensure your research has the greatest possible impact, including discussions of how to do research that is policy relevant, how to communicate one’s results to the media and public, and how to translate research results into policy.

    Faculty: Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo

    Location (Access restricted to registered students): Zoom URL

    • Session Slides:

    • strategic science.social determinants of health.03022021.FINAL File

    • Session Audio/Video Recording (Access restricted to registered students):

    • Watch -Live Lecture Media Resource
      Not available unless: You belong to Registered Students Only

    • Required Reading:

    • Gollust AJPH Dec 2009 polarizing effects of news msgs re SDOH File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • socially responsible science.NATURE File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02
    • BIDIL.ANNALs.BibbinsDomingo File
      Not available unless: Your ID number starts with 02

    • Optional Reading:

    • Winett et al AJPH Mommy Blame 2016 (1) (002) File
      Not available unless: Your ID number contains 02

    • Assignment:

      Please post to the forum by 8:45am on the day of class

      John Ruffin, former head of the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities wrote:

      "The 19th-century scientist and pathologist Rudolph Virchow gave voice to many of our present-day concerns about disparities and went a long way toward defining the task before us. A socially minded man, he believed that science should speak the language of the common people and that medicine should serve the public's health. He wrote, 'If medicine is to fulfill her greatest task, then she must enter the political and social life…'"

      Do you agree and why?  Is it permissible for scientists to become advocates in the areas of their research?  What steps can one take to balance advocacy with the objectivity that is considered the ideal in scientific inquiry?

      Please describe an of controversy for health disparities research that you learned about in this course, or alternatively an area of research that should be prioritized in health disparities. Include why you find this area interesting or controversial.