Berkeley Center for Social Medicine

Background image: A collage of books and publications by affiliates of Berkeley Center for Social Medicine

The Berkeley Center for Social Medicine critically engages the intersection of social systems, social difference, health and health care in the United States and across the globe. 

Founded in 2013, the Center links to the discipline of social medicine internationally by bringing together Bay Area scholars from the social and historical sciences who are working on questions related to medicine, the health sciences, public health, global health, the social structuring of suffering, violence and the body.  

Berkeley Center for Social Medicine News

Group-Based Integrative Pain Management

October 16, 2025

Ariana Thompson-Lastad, a faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine, recently co-authored an article in the Journal of Primary Care & Community Health. The...Read more about Group-Based Integrative Pain Management

The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19

October 9, 2025

Elena Conis, a faculty affiliate of the Berkeley Center for Social Medicine, explains how attitudes and federal policy about vaccines have evolved in the U.S. in this...Read more about The history of vaccine hesitancy, from smallpox to COVID-19

Partnering with SF Students to Study Chronic Absenteeism

September 26, 2025

Emily Ozer, Berkeley Center for Social Medicine faculty affiliate, is co-leading a collaboration between UC Berkeley researchers and San Francisco students to investigate the causes of chronic absenteeism. In this youth-led research model, students are involved in all stages,...Read more about Partnering with SF Students to Study Chronic Absenteeism

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