I bring a multi-disciplinary research approach, setting forth a new path to explore how social factors shape life for survivors of chronic disease.
I bring a multi-disciplinary research approach, setting forth a new path to explore how social factors shape life for survivors of chronic disease.
Our lab is dedicated to investigating disparities in chronic disease and identifying the social and economic factors that lead some groups to experience health or disease differently than others.
Our work is rooted in Social Epidemiology principles and methods, and includes exploring social factors such as social capital and healthcare system distrust, and economic factors, such as consumer credit scores and financial toxicity, and how they contribute to health outcomes. As a social epidemiology lab, our emphasis is on social determinants of health, which we apply to a broad range of communicable and non-communicable chronic diseases.
It’s true! We do all of our work as a means of affecting change in the world, first through in an approach to science that has a social justice orientation, and then to how that science applies to policy and populations.
Ultimately, our goal is to contribute science that dismantles health disparities and the structures of power that contribute to them.
Lorraine T. Dean, ScD
Associate Professor
Here’s what to expect from the series: Dr. Dean’s Two-Minute Tips for (Excellent) Academic Scholarship
