Social Epidemiology Learning Series
Rita Hamad, MD, PhD
Director, Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center, Harvard School of Public Health
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Dr. Rita Hamad is a social epidemiologist and Director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research examines how social factors like poverty and education contribute to racial and socioeconomic health disparities across the life course. She specializes in evaluating the health effects of social and economic policies using interdisciplinary quasi-experimental methods to generate actionable evidence for policymaking.
Dr. Hamad serves as an Advisory Editor for Social Science & Medicine and an Associate Editor at Health Affairs Scholar. From 2020 to 2022, she was the James C. Puffer American Board of Family Medicine/National Academy of Medicine Fellow. She also provides consultation to state and federal legislators on poverty alleviation and social safety net policies.
In addition to mentoring trainees in population health and health equity research, Dr. Hamad has lectured extensively on the impact of social policies on health disparities. Previously, she worked as a family physician for 10 years in safety-net clinics throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Laura C. Rosella, MHSc, PhD
Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto & Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics
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Dr. Laura C. Rosella is a Professor and Division Head of Epidemiology at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, where she holds a Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics. She leads the Population Health Analytics Laboratory, which focuses on advancing sustainable and equitable health systems while improving population health and well-being.
A recognized leader in public health research, Dr. Rosella is a member of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars and serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Public Health. Her research leverages linked data sources to demonstrate their impact on critical population health and health system outcomes. She has authored over 310 peer-reviewed publications and was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, recognizing her contributions to epidemiology and public health.
Kara E. Rudolph, MHS, PhD
Associate Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
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Dr. Kara Rudolph is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Her research focuses on developing and applying causal inference methods to study mental health, substance use, and violence in the United States.
Her methodological work centers on transportability and mediation, with a focus on generalizing findings from study samples to target populations and identifying subpopulations most likely to benefit from interventions. Her research contributes to optimizing the targeting of policy and program resources to enhance public health outcomes.
Arjumand Siddiqi, MPH, ScD
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto & Senior Scientist and Edwin S.H. Leong Chair of Child Policy Research, The Hospital for Sick Children
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Dr. Arjumand Siddiqi is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, and a Senior Scientist and Edwin S.H. Leong Chair of Child Policy Research at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. She also holds appointments in Sociology, Public Policy, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto and is a Senior Fellow at Massey College. Additionally, she serves as an Adjunct Professor at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.
Dr. Siddiqi’s research focuses on understanding the causes of health inequities, with a particular emphasis on how social policies and societal conditions influence population health. She frequently collaborates with governments and international agencies to address issues related to health inequalities and the social determinants of health.
Silvia Stringhini, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health and Investigator, Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, University of British Columbia
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Dr. Silvia Stringhini is an Associate Professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, Investigator of the Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and a Senior Epidemiologist at Geneva University Hospitals. Her research examines the social determinants of health and aging, with a focus on how socioeconomic conditions influence biological processes and contribute to health disparities over the life course.
Dr. Stringhini has led pioneering studies on biological embedding, demonstrating how social adversity translates into physiological changes that accelerate disease risk. With extensive experience in large-scale population health studies and interdisciplinary research, she has published widely in high-impact journals and actively contributes to advancing epidemiological research.