UCL Summer School on Social Determinants of Health

The Health and Society Summer School on Social Determinants of Health welcomed forty-seven participants from nineteen countries this year. Participants came from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Korea, as well as from a number of European countries and the UK. Here Dr Ruth Bell (UCL Epidemiology and Public Health) reports on the event.

This non-residential summer school is designed for two types of participant: those who already work in the field of public health and want to refresh their knowledge of population health, and those who are considering a career in public health or related research such as social epidemiology and health policy (national and global).

The course is multi-disciplinary and covers topics including social stratification, work, gender, ethnicity, social-biological translation, life course epidemiology, mental health, oral health, disability, inequality and human rights, Russian mortality crisis, tackling health inequalities, public health ethics, politics of health and equity, and globalization and health. The course is run by UCL’s Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

One participant, Dr Graeme Woodrow, director of Health Technology Strategy at CSIRO, a government agency in Australia, said: “The course exceeded my expectations in providing the evidence for and principles underpinning a social determinants of health approach. This enriched understanding will guide our decision-making in designing new research programmes, and opens up opportunities in integrating biological and social perspectives in studies of communities in need”.

Since attending the summer school, several participants have enquired about pursuing research degrees at UCL. Lindsay Kobayashi, a Master’s student from Canada, commented: “The summer school has motivated me to continue my graduate training at UCL, where I can steer my future toward performing high-quality research that contributes to achieving health and social justice for all”

The Health and Society Summer School first ran in 2008, the year that the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, chaired by UCL’s Professor Sir Michael Marmot, launched its final report. The course was set up in response to the interest generated by the commission and because one of the aims of the commission was to ensure that the evidence for action on social determinants of health became widely known about and debated.

Of course much has happened since 2008 – not least the global financial crisis, which has wide implications for the social determinants of health. The evidence base has moved forward and grown, with important contributions to the evidence coming from researchers teaching on the course.

Professor Sir Michael Marmot opened the summer school with a presentation on the social determinants of health and later in the week led a session on national and international policy development. Professor Mark Petticrew, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, gave a guest lecture on complex interventions and public health. Summer school participants also took part in a public seminar entitled Rebuilding Health in Post-Conflict Settings, hosted by the International Institute for Society and Health with Dr Jean-Francois Trani, Dr Seb Taylor, and Dr Egbert Sondorp.

For information about the 2012 Health and Society Summer School on Social Determinants of Health please contact Catherine Conroy.