Health Disparities & Public Policy

Health Disparities & Public Policy is a research program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University.  The program’s studies investigate health needs of traditionally underserved populations such as racial/ethnic minorities, impoverished persons, the homeless, and incarcerated populations.    Findings from the group’s studies have shaped US public health policy.  Results have been cited in Supreme Court amicus briefs, congressional hearings, and Surgeon General’s reports.  The program has conducted studies in the following areas:

• The criminalization of the mentally ill
• Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adult jail detainees
• Correlations between psychiatric disorders and violence
• Development and persistence of psychiatric disorders in youth while they are incarcerated and after they return to their communities
• Patterns of service utilization in high-risk populations
• Trajectories of substance use disorders
• Patterns of incarceration and how they affect health disparities in psychiatric disorders and physical illnesses such as HIV/AIDS
• Mortality rates, focusing on variables associated with early violent death

Formerly known as the Psycho-Legal Studies program, the research group changed its name to reflect its focus on health disparities.  The program complements other research on health disparities at Northwestern University, such Dr. Romana Hasnain-Wynia’s work at the Center for Healthcare Equity, Dr. Lindsay Chase Lansdale’s work at the Cells to Society research program and Dr. David Baker’s work at the Research Center of Excellence in Clinical Preventive Services.