Rita Hamad
Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Departments
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Related Links
Biography
Dr. Rita Hamad is a social epidemiologist and the Director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the pathways linking social factors like poverty and education with racial and socioeconomic disparities in health across the life course. In particular, she studies the health effects of social and economic policies using interdisciplinary quasi-experimental methods to generate actionable evidence to inform policymaking. She serves as an Advisory Editor for the journal Social Science & Medicine and an Associate Editor at Health Affairs Scholar. In 2020-2022, she was the James C. Puffer American Board of Family Medicine / National Academy of Medicine Fellow. She provides consultation to state and federal legislators on the design of poverty alleviation and social safety net policies. Dr. Hamad mentors trainees at all levels in population health and health equity research, and lectures about the effects of social policies on health inequities. She saw patients as a family physician for 10 years in safety net clinics throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, although she is no longer a practicing doctor.
Education and Training
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PhD, Epidemiology
Stanford University -
MD, Medicine
University of California San Francisco -
MPH, MS, Health & Medical Sciences
University of California Berkeley -
AB, Chemistry
Harvard University
Awards and Honors
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Outstanding Impact in Health & Social Justice Alumni Award, 2022
UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program -
James C. Puffer, M.D./American Board of Family Medicine Fellowship, 2020 - 2022
National Academy of Medicine -
Hellman Fellowship, 2018 - 2020
University of California San Francisco -
Irene Perstein Award, 2018 - 2021
University of California San Francisco
