Health, Medicine and the Body
Faculty and students active in the sociology department’s Health, Medicine and the Body program study the social context of health, illness, and health care, with a central focus on health disparities by race/ethnicity, social class, gender, and marital status; political, economic, and environmental circumstances that threaten health; and societal forces that impact the health care system. Faculty members often collaborate with scholars across MSU’s College of Human Medicine, College of Osteopathic Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, and College of Communication Arts and Sciences. In recent years, research projects of affiliated faculty have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Medicaid/Medicare, and United States Department of Agriculture.
The MSU faculty who study Health, Medicine and the Body have considerable expertise and conduct research in the following areas:
- environment and health
- the body and embodiment
- the social organization of medicine
- food risks and media
- gender and health
- health behaviors over the life course
- medical knowledge and professional practices
- sexual and gender minority health
- physican and mental health
- public attitudes towards research using bio-bank tissue samples
- racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in health
- social relationships, social networks and health
- stress and substance abuse