The list below is provided to help keep those interested in the works of colleagues in the health disparities field up to date. It is presented in reverse chronological order, most current being first and divided between publications and symposias/conferences.

SYMPOSIAS and CONFERENCES

• HEALTH DISPARITIES & THE BODY POLITIC:
  POLICY, RESEARCH, DATA & GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY
  
  
  Three international symposia sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health:
  March 3, 2005 - April 14, 2005 - May 5, 2005
  For free registration & information on accessing free webcast, see website at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/disparities
  Social inequality may be harmful to your health. It increases the burden of disability and disease in communities and cuts short lives. Economic deprivation, discrimination, lack of access to health services, and violation or neglect of human rights all play a part in shaping population health.
  Yet, despite centuries of evidence on the toll of adverse living and working conditions on health, only been in the past decade has concern with social inequalities in health become part of the mainstream public health agenda.
  To explore the role that governments and engaged communities can play in reducing and rectifying social inequities in health worldwide, the Harvard School of Public Health is hosting a three-part symposium series.
  
  Thursday, March 3, 2:00 pm -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center,
  77 Avenue Louis Pasteur,
  Boston
  "Spreading the Health: Government's Role in Addressing Health Disparities."
  
  Thursday, April 14, 2:00 pm -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center,
  77 Avenue Louis Pasteur,
  Boston.
  "Investigating Health Disparities: New Agendas for National Health Research Institutes"
  
  Thursday, May 5, 2:00 -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center,
  77 Avenue Louis Pasteur,
  Boston
  "Making Disparities Count: From Government Statistics Systems to Action"

To enhance the global reach of the symposia, each session will be web cast live, with free access. All sessions will be archived, also with free access, at this symposium web site hosted by the Harvard School of Public Health. The content of all the symposia has been developed independently of our sponsors. Admission is free. Seating is limited. See symposium descriptions for registration deadlines.

SYMPOSIUM PARTICIPANTS:
March 3, 2005: "Spreading the Health: Government's Role in Addressing Health Disparities"
Moderator:
David Studdert, PhD, HSPH Associate Professor of Law and Public Health
Speakers:
Carolyn Clancy, MD, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, United States Department of Health and Human Services;
Fiona Adshead, MD, Deputy Medical Officer, Department of Health, United Kingdom;
Asa Christina Laurell, MD, Minister of Health, Mexico City;
Irene Nilsson Carlsson, Director, Division for Public Health, Sweden.
Discussant:
Sir Donald Acheson, professor emeritus, University College of London,
author of The Acheson Inquiry
Q & A Panel:
Deborah Prothrow Stith, MD, HSPH Professor of Public Health Practice,
Facilitators:
Kalahn Taylor Clark, HSPH graduate student;
Sofia Gruskin, HSPH Associate Professor of Health and Human Rights;
Ashih Jha, HSPH Assistant Professor of Health Management and HMS Research Fellow in Medicine;
Brent Staples (invited), The New York Times, columnist.

April 14, 2005: "Investigating Health Disparities: New Agendas for
National Health Research Institutes"
Moderator:
Lisa Berkman, HSPH Professor of Public Policy, Departments of Society, Human Development, and Health and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health
Speakers:
Elias Zerhouni, MD, Director, U.S. National Institutes of Health;
John Frank, PhD, Scientific Director, Institute of Population and Public Health, Canada;
Mirta Roses Periago, MD, Director, Pan American Health Organization; PAHO/WHO
Sujatha Rao, MD, Member Secretary of the National Commission on
Macroeconomics and Health, India.
Discussant:
Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, MPH, President, Institute of Medicine
Q & A Panel:
Howard Koh, MD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy,
Facilitators:
JudyAnn Bigby, MD, Director of Community Health Programs and HMS
Center of Excellence in Women's Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital;
Christopher Murray, MD, PhD, HSPH Professor of Population Policy,
Director of the Harvard Global Health Initiative;
Atul Gawande, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital;
Maria Glymour, SD, Research Associate, HSPH Department of Society,
Human Development, and Health.

May 5, 2005: "Making Disparities Count: From Government Statistics Systems to Action"
Moderator:
Nancy Krieger, PhD, HSPH Associate Professor of Society,
Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health
Speakers:
John Fox, PhD, Director of Statistics, Department of Health, United Kingdom;
Vickie Mays, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of
California-Los Angeles and Director, UCLA Center on Research, Education,
Training, and Strategic Communications on Minority Health Disparities;
Eduardo Mota, SD, Chief of Health Statistics, Instituto de Saude Coletiva, Brazil;
Discussant:
Godfrey Woelk, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Communitiy
Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe;
Q & A Panel:
Robert Blendon, ScD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy and Management,
Facilitators:
Howard Koh, MD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy;
Mary Waters, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Harvard;
Evelynn Hammonds, PhD, SM, Professor of the History of Science and
African and African American Studies, Harvard;
David Rehkopf, MPH, doctoral candidate, Harvard School of Public Health

Organized by the HSPH Health Disparities Working Group symposia committee:
Nancy Krieger, Lisa Berkman, David Studdert, Bev Freeman, Alix Smullin


• Interdisciplinary conference: "Rethinking Inequalities and Differences in Medicine"
  Location: Nashville, Tennessee
  Call for Papers Date: 2004-11-01
  Date Submitted: 2004-09-02
  
  April 29-May 1, 2005 Vanderbilt University
  
  This conference is intended to bring together scholars from multiple disciplines to share and discuss new approaches to the study of inequalities and differences in medicine. Proposals are invited for 20-minute papers or 3-paper sessions from researchers in medicine. Papers may be either theoretical or empirical in emphasis. Proposals that provide an international or historical perspective would be particularly welcome.
  
  For more information contact: mhs+director@vanderbilt.edu
  Abstract available at this site: http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~matthew.ramsey/mhs-cfp.pdf
  Announcement ID: 140771
  Official announcement posting: http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/announce/show.cgi?ID=140771

PUBLICATIONS

• Paula A. Braveman, Susan A. Egerter, Catherine Cubbin, Kristen S. Marchi An Approach to Studying Social Disparities in Health and Health Care Center on Social Disparities in Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. Catherine Cubbin is also with the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. December 2004, Vol 94, No. 12 - American Journal of Public Health 2139-2148
  
  Abstract: "....With this article, the authors propose an approach to studying and monitoring social disparities in health and health care, using prenatal care as an example. They use the term "social disparities in health" broadly here to refer to differences in health-or likely determinants of health-that are systematically associated with different levels of underlying social advantage or position in a social hierarchy.
  
  Social advantage or position is reflected by economic resources, occupation, education, racial/ethnic group, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics associated with greater resources, influence, prestige, and social inclusion.
  
  Objective: We explored methods and potential applications of a systematic approach to studying and monitoring social disparities in health and health care.

  Methods: Using delayed or no prenatal care as an example indicator, we (1) categorized women into groups with different levels of underlying social advantage; (2) described and graphically displayed rates of the indicator and relative group size for each social group; (3) identified and measured disparities, calculating relative risks and rate differences to compare each group with its a priori most-advantaged counterpart; (4) examined changes in rates and disparities over time; and (5) conducted multivariate analyses for the overall sample and "at-risk" groups to identify particular factors warranting attention.

  Results: We identified at-risk groups and relevant factors and suggest ways to direct efforts for reducing prenatal care disparities.

  Conclusions: This systematic approach should be useful for studying and monitoring disparities in other indicators of health and health care.
  
  Requests for reprints can be sent to:
  Paula A. Braveman
  Director Center on Social Disparities in Health, Department of Family and Community Medicine,
  University of California, San Francisco - 500 Parnassus Avenue,
  MU 3-E,
  San Francisco, CA 94143-0900