Statement from the Co-Chair Emily S. Ihara Healthy Outlook Division of Health, Health Policy and Health Services of the Society for the Study of Social Problems SUMMER 2008 Statement from the Co-Chair 1 Paper Competition 2 SSSP Conference Hotel Info. 3 News of Note 4 Annual Meeting Sessions 5-8 Publication Announcement 5 Newsletter Editor Update 8 Election Results 9 Call for Papers 9 Position Announcement 10 HEALTHY OUTLOOK SUMMER 2008 Dear Colleagues and Friends of the Division: The theme of this year’s SSSP meeting, “Crossing Borders: Activist Scholarship, Globalization, and Social Justice” is a particularly timely one as we seek to push forward an agenda of social justice in the face of stagnant wages, slowing economic markets, and rising gasoline, food, and electricity prices. As activists and scholars, we have the opportunity to think creatively and frame the issues so that social justice is on the forefront of discussions about globalization. The connection between globalization and health is a complex web of political conditions, national policy capacities and resources, and decisions about public goods such as health, education, labor rights, and environmental protection. Health is a human right and a resource that benefits society as a whole. In our efforts to improve health outcomes and population health, we cannot ignore the importance of eliminating social and economic inequality in all societies. Our division’s two thematic sessions, Challenging Borders: Construction of ‘Health’ and ‘Pathologies,’ organized by Betsy Ettorre and Elroi Windsor and Health, Activism, and Social Justice, organized by Amy Schulz and Lora Lempert, along with our sponsored sessions and roundtables will give all of us an opportunity to engage in dialogue about these and other important issues. You are warmly invited to join us for the Division-Sponsored Reception on Thursday, July 31, from 6:30-7:30 pm in the Plaza Ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel. Prior to the reception, please bring your program ideas for next year’s meeting and join us for the Health, Health Policy and Health Services Division meeting on Thursday, July 31, from 4:30-6:10 pm in the Stanbro Room. At this time, I would like to convey my heartfelt appreciation to Amy Schulz, the outgoing Division Co-Chair, for her excellent leadership and dedicated service to our division over the past two years. I enthusiastically welcome Edna Viruell-Fuentes, the incoming Co-Chair of the division, and am very much looking forward to working with her over the next year to further the work of the division. I would also like to thank Alexis Bender for her incredible work on our division's newsletter for the past three years. Working with Alexis has been a real pleasure for me, and I wish her the best in her future endeavors! We are fortunate to have Miranda Waggoner join us as our new editor, and I am looking forward to working with her in the coming year! Please continue to send in your good news and suggestions to Miranda for future newsletters. I look forward to seeing you at our annual meeting in Boston! Emily Send Correspondence to: Miranda Wagonner Healthy Outlook, Editor Department of Sociology & The Heller School for Social Policy and Management Brandeis University waggoner@brandeis.edu Division of Health, Health Policy and Health Services of the Society for the Study of Social Problems SUMMER 2008 Amy J. Schulz Division Co-Chair Health Behavior and Health Education School of Public Health University of Michigan ajschulz@umich.edu Emily S. Ihara Division Co-Chair Department of Social Work George Mason University eihara@gmu.edu SUMMER 2008 Page # Welcome to our new co-chair! Edna A. Viruell-Fuentes was elected as the new incoming co-chair for the division. Professor Viruell-Fuentes is Assistant Professor of Latina and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her health disparities research seeks to unravel the complex relationships between immigration and health. Her work builds on the premise that studying immigrant health offers insights into the impact of social contexts on health status, which in turn can contribute to the elimination of health disparities. NEWS OF NOTE!!! Wendy Chapkis has a new book, Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, coming out with New York University Press in July. An excerpt of the first chapter (on the rise of modern medicine in the U.S. and the removal of cannabis from the pharmacopeia) was run last month on Alternet (and was the number one emailed story for two weeks). The excerpt -- "How Pot Became Demonized: the Fine Line Between Good Medicine and 'Dangerous Drugs'" -- can still be accessed at: http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/85205 Peter Conrad has a new edition of the text/reader he edits coming out in August. Peter Conrad, Sociology of Health and Illness: Critical Perspectives, 8th edition, Worth Publishers, 2009. Jordan Lewis recently received a fellowship from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) to fund his dissertation research on successful aging and rural health in Alaska. The fellowship is the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which funds cutting edge research in the Arctic in the natural and social sciences. Edwin Tutt Long, MD with Anne Buzenberg have a new book entitled Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Health Care. It can be found through Lulu publishers. Jacqueline Low received a 2008 SSHRC Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences in Canada Grant $30153 as Chief Organizer of Qualitatives 2008: The Chicago School and Beyond. The 25th Qualitative Analysis Conference. Department of Sociology, University of New Brunswick and the Atlantic Centre for Qualitative Research and Analysis, St Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada, May 21-24, 2008. Jacqueline also has a new book, Malacrida, C. and Low, J. (2008). Sociology of the body: A reader, Oxford University Press and a publication in Health Promotion International. Low, J. and Thériault, L. (2008). Health promotion policy in Canada: Lessons forgotten, lessons still to learn. Health Promotion International, 23:200-206. Adina Nack’s book, Damaged Goods? Women Living with Incurable Sexually Transmitted Diseases, was recently published by Temple University Press.  Brief description: How do women living with genital herpes and/or HPV (human papillomavirus) infections see themselves as sexual beings, and what choices do they make about sexual health issues? Adina Nack, a medical sociologist who specializes in sexual health and social psychology, conducted in-depth interviews with 43 women about their identities and sexuality in regards to chronic illness. The result is a fascinating and important book about an issue that affects over 15 million Americans, but is all too little discussed, even as news circulates about new HPV vaccines. Kristen Springer was chosen as a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at Columbia University for 2008-2010. The SSSP Conference Hotel—make your reservation today! Group:   THE SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS Date:      July 28- August 4, 2008 Rates:    $199.00 per night, Run of House $299.00 per night, Towers Level Concierge (Rates are exclusive of tax, which is presently 12.45% and subject to change without notice). Hotel: Located in the heart of historic Back Bay, The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers is one of Boston’s most recognized and renowned landmarks. The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers, a member of Historic Hotels of America, was constructed in March, 1927, a monument to its creator, E.M. Statler. Guestrooms: The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers provides 941 guestrooms, Towers Level Concierge Floor and 65,000 square feet of flexible function space.  Services available in all guestrooms include cable channels, high speed Internet service, in-room movies, climate control, black out curtains, in-room hairdryers, irons and ironing boards and more.                                      Reservations: Please go to http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/SOC0725 to learn more about the event and to book, modify, or cancel a reservation from October 09, 2007 to July 31, 2008. You can also call 1.800.225.2008 to make your reservation; be sure to request The Society for the Social Problems room rate. Kindly note, guestrooms reservation must be guaranteed with a credit card. Check-in is 3:00pm and Check-out is noon. Cancellation policy is by 6:00pm the day prior to arrival. Cut-off Date: Reservations must be confirmed by Monday, July 7, 2008 to guarantee our negotiated group rate. Reservations received after or if the room block is filled prior to that date, are subject to availability.  50 Park Plaza at Arlington Street Boston, MA 02116-3912 Telephone 617.426.2000/ Fax 617.426.5545 www.bostonparkplaza.com Thursday 8:30 -10:00 Session 1: Working in the Health Care Sector With the Labor Studies Division Organizers: Corey Dolgon, Worcester State College and Amy Schulz, University of Michigan Presider & Discussant: Corey Dolgon, Worcester State College “The Effect of Nurses’ Networks in the Delivery of Patient Care," Marcia Marx, California State University, San Bernardino “Beyond Band-Aids: A Study of the Health Care Workforce Shortage in Southwestern North Carolina,” Kathleen M. Brennan, James W. Picker and Peter P. Nieckarz, Jr., Western Carolina University “Contesting Time: Contract Professionals and the Implicit Critique of Standard Employment,” Debra Osnowitz, Clark University and Kevin Hensen, College of San Mateo 10:30 -12:10 Session 19: Boundaries of Race, Ethnicity, and Class: Inclusion and Exclusion in Health With the Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division, and Racial and Ethnic Minorities Division Organizer: Emily Ihara, George Mason University Presider: Robert Leibson Hawkins, New York University “Theorizing Population Health Interventions: Agency, Structure and Racial Inequalities in Health,” Amy Schulz, University of Michigan School of Public Health and Valerie Haines, University of Calgary “Theoretical and Policy Approaches to the Down Low,” John Barnshaw, University of Delaware “Examination of the Intersection of Race, Class and Gender in the Delivery of Health Care: Inequities in Aboriginal Access to Culturally Safe Mental Health and Addictions Services,” Victoria Smye, UBC School of Nursing, Barbara Keith, Vancouver Coastal Health and Annette Browne, UBC School of Nursing “Assessing Knowledge of Prostate Cancer in an African American Community,” Elinor Schoenfeld, Stony Brook University, Linda E. Francis, University of Akron and Antonio DeGrasse, Stony Brook University “Lost in the Mountains: An Examination of Latino Health Issues in Rural America,” Cameron Lippard and Caroline Atwell, Appalachian State University Friday 8:00-9:40 Session 49: Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Roundtables Organizer & Presider: Amy Schulz, University of Michigan Roundtable 1: Potpourri “The ‘Health Maintenance Organization’: From Solution to Social Problem,” Tom Mackie, Brandeis University “Financial Hardship and Health: The Role of Social Comparisons,” Kathleen M. Brennan, Western Carolina University “Blanket Protection of Kith and Kin?: The Role of Social Cohesion on Worker Health Outcomes,” Linda A. Treiber, Kennesaw State University and Shannon N. Davis, George Mason University “Individual Socioeconomic Status, Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context and Mortality: Evidence from the Americas Changing Lives Study,” Li Yao and Stephanie Robert, University of Wisconsin, Madison Roundtable 2: Social Theory and Lived Experience of Health “Understanding Lived Experience with Brain Injury Through a Survivors Visual Illness Narrative,” Laura S. Lorenz, The Heller School, Brandeis University “The Impact of Uncertainty on Quality of Life in Women,” Jennifer Olenik, Judith N. Lasker and Ellen D. Sogolow, Lehigh University “Too Tired to Sleep: A Sociological Examination of the Insomnia Epidemic,” Mairead Eastin Moloney, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “Durkheim and Tarde: An Integrated Sociological Theory of Adolescent Suicide,” Thorolfur Thorlindsson and Jon Gunnar Bernburg, University of Iceland and Inga Dora Sigfussdottir, Reykjavic University 12:30-2:10 Session 62: HIV/AIDS: Population Studies With the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division Organizer: Lloyd Klein, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY Presider: Shela Van Ness, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga Discussant: Judith Gordon, Yale University School of Medicine “Construction of HIV/AIDS Risk and Transmission: The Case of Low-Income Minority Older Adults,” Elijah Ward, Saint Xavier University, Judith A. Levy, University of Illinois at Chicago, William Disch, University of Connecticut and Jean J. Schensul, Institute for Community Research “Women Long Term Survivors of HIV: Living with Identities of Wellness and Illness,” Donna B. Barnes, California State University, East Bay and Audrey A. Thomas, Harvard University “Narrowing the Gap: Participatory HIV Research and Intervention with Incarcerated Women,” Jessica Fields, San Francisco State University and Isela González, San Francisco Department of Public Health 2:30-4:10 Session 70: Sociology of Disaster With the Environment and Technology Division Organizer: Brent Marshall, University of Central Florida Presider: J. Steven Picou, University of South Alabama “Changing Social Context and the Chornoby Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: A Study of Mothers with Children and Their Wellbeing,” Richard Adams, Kent State University, Lin Tung and Evelyn Bromet, Stony Brook University “Toxic Decisions: The State, Industry and Environmental Public Health under the Regulatory Reign of MTBE,” Christopher Oliver, Michigan State University “Rural/Urban Partnering in Disaster Response: Challenges and Opportunities,” Lee Miller, Sam Houston State University “Assessing Indicators of Disaster Resilience in Marginalized Communities,” Robin Ersing, University of South Florida “Long-term Psychosocial Impacts of Hurricane Katrina,” J. Steven Picou, University of South Alabama, Brent Marshall, University of Central Florida and Kenneth Hudson, University of South Alabama THEMATIC Session 71: Challenging Borders: Construction of ‘Health’ and ‘Pathologies’ Organizers: Elizabeth Ettorre, University of Liverpool and Elroi Windsor, Georgia State University Presider: Elizabeth Ettorre, University of Liverpool Papers: “Healthy Gays vs Sick Trannies: Demedicalization and the Construction of Pathology,” Karl Bryant, SUNY New Paltz “Morgellons Syndrome: From Delusion to Disease?” Brian Paul Fair, Brandeis University “Constructions of Healthy Childbirth: Challenging the Borders between Vaginal Delivery and Caesarean Section,” Carol Kingdon, University of Central Lancashire “Transplantation, Organ Donation and (In)human Experience: Rewriting Boundaries through Embodied Perspectives on Kidney Failure,” Ciara Kierans, The University of Liverpool and Michael Mair, The University of Manchester “The Obligation to Tell and the Duty to Protect: Managing Genetic Risk Identity for Children,” Emily S. Kolker, Brandeis University Friday 4:30-6:10 Session 82: Food and Inequality With the Division and Poverty, Class, and Inequality Division Organizer, Presider & Discussant: E. Brooke Kelly, University of North Carolina at Pembroke “Community Food Systems and the Politics of Inclusion,” Raven Bruno and Leslie Hossfeld, University of North Carolina at Wilmington “Beyond Food Access: Food Insecurity as Lived Experience,” Alison Alkon, University of California, Davis “Buying Authenticity,” Barbara Katz Rothman, City University of New York “Peanut Panic: The Social Construction of a Public Health Phenomenon,” Miranda R. Waggoner, Brandeis University Saturday 8:30-10:10 Session 95: Speaking to ‘The System’: Diagnosis, Access, and Services from Users’ Perspectives With the Disabilities Division and Institutional Ethnography Division Organizers: Jean-Louis Deveau, University of New Brunswick and Marjorie DeVault, Syracuse University Presider: Marjorie DeVault, Syracuse University Discussant: Chris Wellin, Miami University “Reproductive Health Care Experiences after Spinal Cord Injury: What Can We Learn From Interviews with Women?” Heather Dillaway, Cathy Lysack, Janice Schwartz and Katherine Cross, Wayne State University “Visually Experiencing a Phone Call: The Work of Deaf People as They Use Video Relay Service,” Jeremy L. Brunson, Gallaudet University “Taking Up ADHD,” Erik Rodriguez, Syracuse University “Between Medical and Self-Diagnosis — Internet Labs and the Emergence of ‘Scientific Self-Diagnosis’ of Celiac Disease,” Denise A. Copelton and Pina Valle, SUNY Brockport 10:30 – 12:10 Session 107: Disability and Family With the Disabilities Division and Family Division Organizers: Alexis A. Bender, Georgia State University and Valerie Leiter, Simmons College Presider & Discussant: Elisabeth O. Burgess, Georgia State University “Social Construction of Cognitive Disabilities in Children,” Elizabeth Caroline Harris, California State University, East Bay “Moving Out?: Transition to Adulthood Among Youth with Disabilities and the Role of Families,” Alexandra Waugh and Valerie Leiter, Simmons College “The Social Phenomenon of Down Syndrome: Mother’s Experience and Understanding of Down Syndrome,” Dana Cervenakova Ahern, Boston College “Marital and Cohabiting Relationships Following Spinal Cord Injury,” Alexis A. Bender, Georgia State University 12:30-2:10 THEMATIC Session 121: Globalization, Immigration, and Health With the Global Division Organizers: Jean Elson, University of New Hampshire and Howard Lune, Hunter College, CUNY Presider: Jean Elson, University of New Hampshire Discussant: Howard Lune, Hunter College, CUNY “Immigrant Acupuncturists in Argentina: Negotiating and Accommodating Expertise in the Western Periphery,” Betina Freidin, Brandeis University “Conceptualizing Professional Diaspora: The Case of the International Medical Graduates in Canada,” Elena Neiterman and Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, McMaster University “Adoption Medicine and the Management of Health Risk in International Placements,” Heather Jacobson, University of Texas at Arlington “General Well-being and Use of Social Services Among Refugees: New Hampshire Refugee Resettlement Emily M. Douglas, Bridgewater State College Saturday 12:30 –2:10 Session 123: Community Health and Substance Use With the Drinking and Drugs Division Organizers: Paul Draus, University of Michigan, Dearborn and Andrew Golub, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. Presider: Paul Draus, University of Michigan, Dearborn Discussant: Andrew Golub, National Development & Research Institutes, Inc. “Medicine by Regulation, Medicine by Referendum: Cannabis and Community Control,” Wendy Chapkis, University of Southern Maine “Prevalence and Correlates of Depression among Mexican-American Female NIUs,” Yolanda Villareal, Avelardo Valdez and Alice Cepeda, University of Houston “‘I’m in Control’: Race, Class, and Masculinity in a Therapeutic Community,” Matthew Ezzell, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 2:30-4:10 THEMATIC Session 130: Health, Activism and Social Justice Organizers & Presiders: Amy Schulz, University of Michigan and Lora Lempert, University of Michigan Dearborn “The New Civil Rights Movement: The Discourse of Race and Project of Framing in the Movement for Health Care Reform,” Lindy Hern, University of Missouri, Columbia “Doing HIV Prevention: Doing Sexual Citizenship,” Aimee Van Wagenen, The Fenway Institute “Crossing National and Cultural Borders: The Global Expansion of Breast Cancer Advocacy,” Lori Baralt, Michigan State University “The Health Care Provision for Local Disadvantaged Populations: Results from a Community Based Study,” Oren Pizmony-Levy, Indiana University, Bloomington, Abagail Shaddox, Indiana University, Bloomington, Byron Keith Thomas, Indiana University and Tabi White, Indiana University, Bloomington “Border Crossing and Bridge Building: African American Community Organizing for Health in the Shadow of a US Academic Medical Center,” Martha Hargraves and Karen J. Williams, University of Texas Medical Branch Session 139: HIV/AIDS: Activism, Discrimination and Community Discourse With the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division Organizer & Presider: Lloyd Klein, Kingsborough Community College, CUNY Discussant: Stephen J. Morewitz, Morewitz and Associates “The Duty to Remember: Almost 20 Years of AIDS Activism,” Gilbert Elbaz, Universite des Antilles et de la Guyane “Institutional Discrimination in Federal Funding for HIV/AIDS,” Christopher William Pell, Georgia State University “The Influence of Black Church Culture: How Black Church Leaders Frame the HIV/AIDS Discourse,” Sandra Barnes and Robert Peterson, Case Western Reserve University Announcing the Publication of the Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2008 The SSSP is pleased to offer you the Agenda for Social Justice, Solutions 2008, which represents an effort by our professional association to nourish a more "public sociology" that will be easily accessible and useful to policy makers. It is also a way to give something back to the people and institutions that support our scholarly endeavors. We hope that you find it helpful in your challenging work of crafting successful solutions to contemporary social problems.  In all, it contains 11 pieces by SSSP members, covering a variety of social problems in three sections: global issues, Americans at risk, and health & welfare.  This is an effort on the part of scholars at the Society for the Study of Social Problems to disseminate the findings in social problems research as freely and as widely as possible.  The web page for the project is located here: http://www.sssp1.org/index.cfm/m/323.  On that page, you can download the full version, and you can link directly to the one-page briefs and individual chapters.  The chapters are available for free download, and may be suitable as cost-effective supplementary readings in many social problems-related courses.   Newsletter Editor Update I would like to welcome Miranda Waggoner as the new editor of Healthy Outlook. Miranda is a doctoral candidate at Brandeis University in sociology and social policy and her main focal area is medical sociology with a particular interest in conceptions of women's health and infant health in addition to policies pertaining to the health of women and children. It is hard to believe that I have been serving as the newsletter editor for nearly three years! I would like to offer a special word of thanks to the co-chairs that I have had the joy of working with over this time, Debora Paterniti, Valerie Leiter, Amy Schulz, and Emily Ihara. I have learned from each of them and have valued all of their advice and feedback to make this newsletter a quality product. I would also like to thank all the members who have provided comments about the newsletter and especially those that have shared their good news with all of us along the way. I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I will see you in Boston! Alexis Bender Graduate Student Paper Awards Graduate Student Paper Winner Congratulations to Abigail A. Sewell, Indiana University--Bloomington, whose paper "Race and Trust: The Case of Medicine," was chosen for 1st place in the SSSP Health Division Graduate Student Paper Award. "Race and Trust: The Case of Medicine" Abstract Past research has yielded mixed explanations regarding why blacks are less trusting of medical actors than whites. Specifically, scholars point to the cultural consequences of collective experiences of inequality, racial differences in social structural resources that enable (or reduce) trust, and racial differences in psychological dispositions that influence survey response style and underlying skepticism. Using data from select Topical (1998, 2002, and 2006) and Base (1972-2006) Modules of the General Social Surveys, I investigate whether the trust gap between blacks and whites can be reduced to any of these explanations of group difference. A standard approach (Trust in Physician scale) yields no racial differences; however, blacks are found to be less trusting than whites regarding whether a physician really cares about them as a person (interpersonal competence). This trust gap cannot be reduced to either social structural or psychological explanations of trust. Instead, the residual gap between blacks and whites supports scholars who highlight the negative influence of collective experiences of inequality. Graduate Student Paper Honorable Mention Congratulations also goes to Laura S. Lorenz, Brandeis University, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, whose paper “Understanding Lived Experience with Brain Injury through a Survivor's Visual Illness Narrative,” received an Honorable Mention in the Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division’s Student Paper Competition. “Understanding Lived Experience with Brain Injury through a Survivor's Visual Illness Narrative” Abstract The emphasis of medicine has changed, from curing acute diseases to managing chronic conditions. Acquired brain injury (ABI) is one example of the chronic conditions that Americans of all socioeconomic status must bear. Historically ABI survivors were expected to have limited potential for recovery, and payer support for rehabilitation care for ABI is limited. Now the brain and its potential for rehabilitation are seen as dynamic, not static; yet payer support lags behind clinical recommendations. This paper seeks to close the gap in the literature on the lived experience of long-term ABI survivors. A 17-year survivor’s visual illness narrative reveals her discovery of a post-brain injury identity whose multiplicity of self-definitions includes chef, brain injury survivor, gardener, and self-advocate and whose healing continues. Study results suggest that visual research methods can help to put biographical disruption such as brain injury into perspective as a life lived. Implications for the patient-provider therapeutic relationship are discussed. Call for Papers The Journal of Long Term Home Health Care is interested in articles of about 20 pages that are focused on any aspect of health care and social issues as they pertain to the elderly. Manuscripts may include position papers, reports of research studies, case reports, analyses of government policy, descriptions and/or evaluations of agencies, programs, and not-for-profit organizations serving any component of the aged population. Papers that offer detailed discussions of a topic, forecast developments, or provide readers with enhanced perspective are particularly welcome. The Journal also considers for publication commentaries on previously published articles, book and media reviews, etc. The readership of the Journal consists of physicians, nurses, social workers, social scientists, and others who work directly with older persons, as well as managers and staff of not-for-profit and government agencies serving the elderly. Author queries should be directed to DRPWB@aol.com or forwarded by mail to F. Russell Kellogg, MD, Editor or Philip W. Brickner, MD, Managing Editor Saint Vincent's Hospital-Manhattan Department of Community Medicine 41-51 East 11th Street, 9th Floor New York, NY 10003 ? Assistant or Associate Professor Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics Institute for Health Promotion Research Description: The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio seeks a tenure-track assistant or associate professor within the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics’ Institute for Health Promotion Research. The successful candidate will conduct research, obtain extramural support, mentor students and fellows, publish in peer-reviewed journals, and contribute service to the university and community. Teaching is optional. Special populations of interest include Latinos, and communities that are underserved or challenged educationally or economically. Qualifications: 1) a doctoral degree in public health, or in the social sciences, communication or behavioral sciences; 2) demonstrated success in obtaining extramural funding; 3) peer-reviewed publications; 4) U.S. citizenship or permanent residency; 5) fluency in English and Spanish; and 6) ability to work in a multi-cultural environment. Preference will be given to candidates with expertise in any of the following: community-based, behavioral interventions for the prevention and control of chronic diseases (cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity); health communication; policy research that targets population behavior; applied research; and health disparities. Research Environment: The scholar will be located in Edinburg, Texas on the campus of The University of Texas Pan American at the recently-built Regional Academic Health Center. Opportunities to collaborate abound, with major universities, regional Schools of Public Health in Brownsville and San Antonio, and numerous community and clinical partners. The fast-growing Lower Rio Grande Valley is home to 1.1 million people, drawn to the border with Mexico for its abundant sunshine, proximity to the Gulf Coast, year-round golf, family-oriented culture, and affordable cost of living. Compensation: Salary and rank will be commensurate with experience. The full-time position, which comes with a start-up package, includes 3 years of salary support plus research funds, and excellent fringe benefits. Following the third year of appointment, the faculty member must have 70% extramural support. About Us: The Institute for Health Promotion Research, created in 2006, has a team of 15 faculty and staff. For details, visit these websites: http://ihpr.uthscsa.edu and http://redesenaccion.org. Department information--http://deb.uthscsa.edu/. University information-- http://www.uthscsa.edu/. Application Process: Applicants should send the following: 1) a letter describing areas of expertise, research interests, and career goals, 2) a current curriculum vita, and 3) 3 letters of professional reference with contact information (including email addresses) to: Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, Institute for Health Promotion Research, 8207 Callaghan Road, Suite 353, San Antonio, TX 78230, PH 210-562-6500, Fax 210-348-0554, Email: ramirezag@uthscsa.edu. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. All faculty appointments are designated as security sensitive positions. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.