This project explores social and political factors, which foster or impede effective public health policymaking, and the development of a sociological theory of change in parameters of health and disease. Historical and demographic research indicates that public health policies play a significant role in mortality decline and that these policies are the outcome of identifiable social and political processes. Dr. Nathanson examines: the roles of state characteristics, grass-roots social and/or political movements, and issue-specific social characteristics in public health policy adoption and implementation. These variables and their relative importance are investigated through comparative analysis of infant health, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases/HIV infection, and smoking as they have evolved from the late nineteenth century to the present in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and France. Drawing from case studies, she clarifies the unique aspects of the U.S. experience in public health policymaking, highlighting its limits and possibilities.

As a faculty member in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School, Dr. Nathanson currently serves as director of the nation's first multidisciplinary doctoral training program in gender, sexuality, and health, a unique undertaking which prepares students for research and teaching careers focused on the reproductive and sexual health of citizens in the U.S. and abroad.