Introduction to the Determinants of Health

What causes disease? It's not just viruses and bacteria. Sometimes it's race, poverty, or geography. What causes something to be called a disease? Why do doctors think obesity is a disease? What's the difference between illness, sickness, and disease ---and why does it matter? This course is a taste of the grander topic of the socioeconomic determinants of health, which are an important foundation to understanding both clinical medicine and public health in the modern era.

Your instructor is a prominent Epidemiologist and tenured professor at a major Canadian university. He has won many teaching awards, and is a regular fixture in the media for his ability to explain complex ideas in a simple way.

This course is ideal for anyone considering a career in the health sciences or in the allied medical professions, or anyone seeking a better understanding of health care in the modern era. It is derived and distilled from a larger version taught to undergraduate university students, and is paired with a textbook that was written specifically for that larger course.