Public policies play a crucial role in shaping how immigrants adapt to life in the United States. Federal, state, and local laws and administrative practices impact immigrants’ access to education, health insurance and medical care, cash assistance, food assistance, and other vital services. Additionally, immigration enforcement activities have substantial effects on immigrants’ health and participation in public programs, … Read more

Medical schools are making headway in meeting the demands of students who want a greater understanding of how health-care policy will affect their patients and practices. Jonathan Oberlander, chair of the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill interview Bloomberg Law 2019.   https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/beyond-cadavers-med-students-learn-to-dissect-health-policy

Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, MSc, Kenan Distinguished Professor in the departments of social medicine and medicine in the UNC School of Medicine and director of the UNC Center for Health Equity Research, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine for her scholarly work on the practical and ethical issues of engaging communities in research to achieve health and equity.

Social Medicine is thrilled to announce that Tonia Poteat has joined the Department as an assistant professor. She will also serve as a core faculty member in the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. Tonia holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins and an MPH and MMSc from Emory, and is a practicing physician assistant. Her research, teaching, and clinical practice have focused on HIV and LGBT health disparities, with particular attention to the health and well-being of transgender communities.

Giselle Corbie-Smith, MD, delivers the 34th Annual Norma Berryhill Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, October 18. Corbie-Smith’s lecture, titled “Leveraging the Power of Collaboration and Engagement to Achieve Health Equity,” can be viewed in full here.

The annual Thomas Jefferson Award recognizes a UNC faculty member who, through personal influence and performance of duty in teaching, writing and scholarship, has best exemplified the ideals and objectives of Thomas Jefferson. UNC faculty members nominate candidates for the honor, which carries a cash prize; a faculty committee chooses the recipient. Chancellor Carol Folt presented the award to Sue Estroff, PhD, at a meeting of the Faculty Council last week.

   Medical aid-in-dying laws are on the rise in the U.S., but patients still face substantial barriers to access, according to      an analysis by Mara Buchbinder, PhD. Eight U.S. jurisdictions (seven states plus the District of Columbia) now allow physicians to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to a mentally competent, terminally ill … Read more

Annie Lyerly, Professor of Social Medicine and Associate Director of the UNC Center for Bioethics, and Elana Jaffe, a research project manager in Social Medicine, co-authored, along with Ilona Goldfarb, from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital. A JAMA Viewpoint article analyzing new CDC guidelines for testing pregnant women for the Zika virus.

Jon Oberlander. New England Journal of Medicine. For 7 years, Republicans vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). With Donald Trump in the White House and Republican majorities in Congress, the GOP was poised to make good on that pledge. Yet less than 7 months into the Trump administration, the GOP’s crusade … Read more