Health and society is a term used to denote a body of scholarship that has emerged over the past 20 years in response to perceived limitations in a strictly biomedical approach to health issues. The health and society concept embraces research conducted in a number of overlapping interdisciplinary fields including: history and philosophy of medicine; medical sociology; behavioural medicine; medical anthropology; social epidemiology; psychosomatic medicine; health psychology; community mental health; international development; family, the life course and gerontology; occupational health and safety; environmental health and women and health.
The program aims to meet the needs of students who wish to go on to work in health-related occupations, to enter graduate programs in health studies, or simply to enrich the experience of those who have general interests in health-related issues.