Rhode Island Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Roberts said she is amazed by how often health care financing is discussed and how rarely actual health policy is addressed during the first part of a three-seminar series called "Social Determinants of Health: Law and Public Policy," presented by the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. Students, doctors and community members gathered in the nearly full Salomon 001 Tuesday evening to learn about the connection between social factors and public health.
"We need to kind of cross-pollinate," Roberts, the keynote speaker, said, referring to the need to concurrently look at social disparities and policies. Roberts encouraged young leaders to remain in Rhode Island to promote positive change.
Panelist Eric Loucks, assistant professor of epidemiology, said analyzing social factors and their influence on health requires viewing individuals as components of communities, which exist within broader societal contexts.
Meanwhile, panelist Lauren Smith, medical director and chief medical officer of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, advocated active communication among attorneys, doctors, researchers and financial specialists to increase the efficacy of research and policy.
Smith cited her research on winter utilities costs and child health as an example of a more holistic approach to health care. She added that while it might seem odd for a pediatrician to be knowledgeable about utilities, it is this sort of interdisciplinary work that drives policy making.
Smith said more coherent information from researchers and better understanding among policy makers about accessing research would aid in converting studies into effective policies.
Panelist Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at Brandeis University, said her research on the links between housing and health indicate that "housing needs to be thought of as a health-indicator."
Panelists were optimistic that health policies related to social factors are moving in a positive direction.
Though much can be done to improve research and policy making, the relationship between the two has come a long way, they said, adding that developments can still be made.
"Some of these things we don't like to talk about, but I really encourage you to push these discussions front-and-center," Roberts said.
