Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center

Welcome to the SPHERE Center! 

What we do

The Social Policies for Health Equity Research (SPHERE) Center’s goal is to facilitate evidence-based policymaking that brings societies closer to health equity. To do so, we:

• Conduct rigorous studies on the effects of social and economic policies on racial and socioeconomic health disparities
• Disseminate findings to policymakers, key stakeholders, and the public
• Train the next generation of health equity researchers

Under the leadership of Dr. Rita Hamad, the SPHERE Center includes an interdisciplinary team of graduate students and early career researchers at the Harvard Chan School, the University of California San Francisco, and other institutions. We study how various policies addressing poverty, education, neighborhood, and other social drivers of health shape health across the lifespan.

The SPHERE Center evaluates the physical and mental health impacts of anti-poverty measures, such as the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and national, state, and local education policies. We assess how safety net supports, like food assistance and paid family leave, can improve health for children and adults. We have documented local U.S. pandemic-era policies to better understand how policy variation and implementation impacted health and health disparities. SPHERE Center research also examines the relationship between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and health. 

In conducting this research, the SPHERE Center offers policymakers, journalists, and the public the evidence base necessary to develop, understand, advocate for, and enact effective social policies that protect and promote health for all people. These projects also provide hands-on opportunities for students, postdoctoral fellows, and other early-stage researchers to develop their careers in health equity research.