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Health Disparities: Race, Gender, and Class

A long history of research documents that morbidity, mortality, and quality of life differ significantly by race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Although eliminating racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health is a national public health priority, health disparities persist and, in some cases, continue to grow. This failure calls for renewed attention to the factors that account for health inequality and new types of public health programs, interventions, and policy discussion.

Through the Department's focus on Health Disparities, students are provided with a comprehensive exposure to racial/ethnic, gender, and socioeconomic differences in disease prevalence, access to health care, and quality of treatment.

The courses offered in this area provide an in-depth description and critical analysis of the various explanatory frameworks applied to disparities in health. Courses provide a familiarity with and an understanding of the relative importance of lifestyle, personal responsibility, social support, neighborhood characteristics, collective action, and the environment as determinants of group differences in health. Additional topics include competing conceptualizations and definitions of race, ethnicity, and culture. These courses also allow students to critique the role of racism, sexism, discrimination, genetics, behavior, sociopolitical history, and the structural determinants of health disparities. Students will also gain the necessary knowledge and skills to apply a multi-level systems perspective to the examination of personal, cultural, and structural factors as determinants of social inequalities and health disparities.

Graduates who focus on health disparities can develop careers as educators, researchers, foundation program officers, health educators, housing and/or environmental justice advocates, urban planners, hospital administrators, non-profit employees (e.g. United Way), and field supervisors/project managers. Students with this focus can also work in urban/rural state and county health departments, policy arenas (e.g., federal government), and community-based research organizations.

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