FALL/WINTER 2025 Society for the Study of Social Problems Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Newsletter IMAGE: VIEW OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK THE LOCATION OF THE SSSP 2026 ANNUAL MEETING In This Issue Calls for Abstracts & Award Nominations 1 Proposed Division Sessions at the 2025 Annual Meeting 2-4 Members on the Job Market 5 Division Updates 6-8 Check out our proposed (co)sponsored sessions for SSSP 2026 in this newsletter! Submit your extended abstract at this link: [click here] We are accepting submissions for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award and Outstanding Scholarship Award! Information can be found here: [click here] Newsletter Editor: Virginia Kuulei Berndt PAGE 2 Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Sponsored Sessions for SSSP 2025 Session 032: Problems and Issues in Medical Education and the Health Professions in a Time of Social Backlash Session Type: Works in Progress Organizers: Jennifer Roebuck Bulanda & Christine A. Beach Co-Sponsor: Educational Problems Session Description: "Many current and prospective educators and learners in academic medical and higher education are excluded from full participation based on race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, ablism, sexual orientation, and related characteristics. Yet many use strategies including leaning on epistemic communities; drawing on cultural connections; contributing expert knowledge; resisting and persisting despite historical exclusion. This session explores how marginalized educators and learners participate in medical and health education. We also welcome works-in-progress highlighting innovative research designs and decolonizing methodologies exploring how members exert agency as they successfully navigate their worlds. We are interested in the potential futures of medical and health education and broader institutions in this time of backlash against participation of minoritized others, and the implications this has for society." Session 043: Medicalization and Surveillance of Gender and Sex Session Type: Critical Dialogue, Thematic Organizer: Ronald E. Bulanda Co-Sponsor: Gender, Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Session Description: “This session focuses on the ways gender and sex have been medicalized, and the ways in which medicalization and surveillance of sex and gender are ways of enacting and enforcing colonization. In this critical dialogue, presenters will engage attendees in a discussion of the ways institutions and systems (including but not limited to political, legal, economic, and medical systems) act as systems of control and consider ways in which we might resist and reconstruct such systems.” The 2026 Annual Meeting will be held at the Westin New York at Times Square in New York City. PAGE 3 Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Sponsored Sessions for SSSP 2025 Session 048: Intersecting Margins: Comparative Health of African Diasporas and Racial Minorities in the Americas Session Type: Critical Dialogue, Thematic Organizer: Raja Staggers-Hakim Session Description: “This session explores the comparative health outcomes of African diasporic and other racialized minority populations across the United States, Canada, and South America. Grounded in medical sociology and public health, and drawing on a comparative framework, presenters will analyze how intersections of race, region, and citizenship status shape health disparities between marginalized groups—including African diasporic, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian communities—and dominant populations. Case studies will include comparisons of African Americans and recent African immigrants in the U.S., as well as parallels in health challenges faced by Black Brazilians and Black Canadians, highlighting the structural, social, and transnational forces driving health inequities across the Americas.” Session 049: Disasters and Health Session Type: Regular Paper Session Organizer: Virginia Kuulei Berndt Session Description: “Disasters are growing in frequency and severity over time, spanning climate-related disasters, epidemics and pandemics, social disruptions such as war and conflict, and more. The impacts of disasters on health, healthcare, and health policy are numerous. Moreover, social vulnerability perspectives hold that disasters impact marginalized populations more severely due to the worsening of pre-existing inequalities in disaster context. This session invites all papers related to disasters and health, welcoming interdisciplinary scholarship and activism, and diverse methodological approaches.” PAGE 4 Health, Health Policy, and Health Services Division Sponsored Sessions for SSSP 2025 Session 050: How Institutional/Systemic Factors Impact Family, Health & Well-Being Session Type: Regular Paper Session, Thematic Organizer: Hans-Peter de Ruiter Co-Sponsor: Institutional Ethnography Session Description: “This session explores how institutions extend their reach into the lifeworlds of individuals and communities, shaping the rhythms of daily life in ways that often remain hidden. By mapping these processes, we uncover how policies, organizational practices, and global systems influence personal choices, relationships, and opportunities. Drawing on examples from diverse contexts, the session highlights both the subtle and overt ways institutions colonize lived experience, and considers how approaches such as Institutional Ethnography (IE) can make these dynamics visible and open pathways for change.” Session 051: Caregivers, Care Recipients, and Health Session Type: Regular Paper Session Organizers: William D. Cabin & Erica FS Jablonski Co-Sponsor: Sociology, Social Work, and Social Welfare Session Description: “The session will focus on research on the nature of or alternatives to current policies and practices regarding the provision of either formal or informal caregiving to persons with health issues. As such, presentations may be at any jurisdictional level (national, state, or local) and either present research-based details of the current policy or practice and its impact on health, or present research on both a current policy or practice and research examining an alternative policy or practice to improve caregiving and health outcomes.” PAGE 5 On the Job Market Shanae Stover Georgia State University Website: [link] | E-mail: sstover@student.gsu.edu Shanae Stover is a sociology Ph.D. candidate at Georgia State University with research and teaching interests in race, health and illness, poverty, structural inequality, health policy, and health and social-service systems. Her scholarship examines how chronically ill, low-income Black women navigate persistent unmet health-related social needs, the institutional barriers that shape illness management, and the informal systems that support survival amid structural abandonment. Drawing on extensive qualitative and community-engaged research, including work on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–funded initiative and housing and mobility evaluations in Atlanta, her work connects sociological theory with applied research and policy-relevant analysis. Shanae has published in peer-reviewed journals including Healthcare, the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, and Family & Community Health. She is an experienced mentor and educator who has taught sociology at Georgia State University and Morehouse College and holds a Certificate of Excellence in College Teaching from Georgia State University. Beyond academia, she is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, the founder of Holistic Community Health, Inc., and the host of a public sociology radio program, reflecting her commitment to translating research into practice and advancing health equity through community-centered work. PAGE 6 Member Updates Publications Shannon Carter Carter, Shannon, J. Scott Carter, Sylvia Stewart, Dahlia Wrubluski, Eric W. Schrimshaw, and Lindsay A. Taliaferro. 2025. “‘At the Mercy of the State’: Transgender and Nonbinary Young Adults’ Experiences Navigating Restrictive Healthcare Legislation.” Social Science & Medicine: 118837 [Link] Sanyu Mojola Mojola, Sanyu. 2025. Death by Design: Producing Racial Health Inequality in the Shadow of the Capitol. University of California Press [Link] J. Michael Ryan Ritzer, George, Chris Rojek, and J. Michael Ryan (eds.). 2025. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2 Edition. Wiley. [Link] Cockherham, William, Stella Quah, Jonathan Gabe, and J. Michael Ryan (eds.). 2025. The Wiley Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society, 2nd edition. Wiley. [Link] PAGE 7 Member Updates: Research Study Recruitment [image of recruitment flyer] See Page 8 for more info! PAGE 8 Member Updates: Research Study Recruitment From Rebecca Hanson and Patricia Richards: "We invite you to participate in a survey exploring the experiences researchers encounter while conducting qualitative research that may be awkward, uncomfortable, or even dangerous. We are particularly interested in understanding how these experiences are shaped by researchers' identities. Please note that the survey is designed for anyone who has conducted qualitative research, not only for those who identify as qualitative researchers. This study is part of a research project led by Dr. Rebecca Hanson (University of Florida) and Dr. Patricia Richards (University of Georgia). The project has been designated exempt by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at both universities. Your participation is completely anonymous, and you will not be asked to provide any identifying information. We have prepared two versions of the survey. One version is for people currently in academia or those who have retired from an academic position. You can access that survey here: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eh5RV8zjCELVHnw Another version of the survey is for people who work or worked outside of academia before retiring (this includes those who enrolled in but did not complete a graduate program). You can access that survey here: https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_54ry7M9T4jc3cLI The survey takes approximately 5 to 20 minutes to complete, depending on your experiences. If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, please contact Dr. Rebecca Hanson at r.hanson@ufl.edu. We would greatly appreciate your time and insight in helping us better understand the experiences that researchers navigate in the field. Thank you for considering participating in this research. Rebecca Hanson and Patricia Richards"