About Us
The Department of Global Health and Social Medicine is an interdisciplinary basic social science department at Harvard Medical School. Our faculty of social scientists and physicians teaches and conducts research in the social sciences and humanities relevant to health and illness, health care delivery, and the professional culture of medicine. We are concerned with historical, social, and cultural aspects of health care, poverty, and other adversities intimately interconnected with disease, as well as the moral issues that arise in the practice of medicine today. We help to organize global health activities at Harvard Medical School. We and our partners have established the Global Health Delivery program to promote a more effective transfer of the great array of services, knowledge, and other resources for prevention and treatment of disease to the many in need of this help, with particular emphasis on those living in resource-poor settings. Our teaching and research programs contribute to the education of undergraduates, medical students, postdoctoral trainees, clinicians, and policy makers. Collaborations among physicians and social scientists worldwide lead to research and interventions that promote better health both in the United States and globally.