There is generally positive but occasionally conflicting evidence on the health benefits of social and economic policies to address social determinants of health like poverty and educational attainment. Dr. Rita Hamad will delve into research to understand the possible reasons for the conflicting results, including the possibility that well intentioned policies may have negative effects. She will highlight the importance of evaluating the effects of even the most common sense policies, in order to inform the design of future interventions to address the social determinants of health.

Dr. Rita Hamad is an Associate Professor at UCSF. She is a social epidemiologist and family physician in the Department of Family & Community Medicine and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies. She is the director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research Program, and Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity. Her research focuses on the pathways linking poverty and education with health disparities across the life course.