News and Alerts
Posted: June 6, 2008
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Socioeconomic Status and Health: Improving the Health of Sonoma County Residents
June 6, 2008 - Santa Rosa, CA - Who suffers from poorer health and greater premature mortality? How do these differences come about? What can be done to eliminate these health disparities? Where people stand on the social ladder shapes multiple aspects of their lives in ways that affect their health and well-being.
Dr. Nancy E. Adler, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, spoke on June 2nd at the Redwood Credit Union to an audience of health professionals and others interested in improving population health and well-being, about these issues.
She reported on the findings of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. This multidisciplinary group of scientists from the US and England has examined the pathways by which socioeconomic (SES) status "gets into the body" to affect health and longevity. Dr. Adler shared the findings, based on a decade of work, which are summarized in their report "Reaching for a Healthier Life: Facts on Socioeconomic Status and Health in the U.S." (pdf).
Dr. Mary Maddux-González, Sonoma County Health Officer, presented local data on health status and SES (pdf) and Oscar Chavez, Executive Director of Community Action Partnership, facilitated a discussion among attendees on how this information might be used to improve the health and well-being of Sonoma County residents.
Dr. Adler is Professor of Psychology, Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, where she is also Vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and Director of the Center for Health and Community. As director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on SES and Health, she coordinates research spanning social, psychological and biological mechanisms by which SES influences health.
Dr. Mary Maddux-González is the Sonoma County Health Officer and Division Director for the Public Health Division of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services.
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