International Encyclopedia of Public Health

William Cockerham is Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Previously, he was Director of the UAB Center for Social Medicine. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and has done post-graduate work at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. His research interests include health-related lifestyle patterns in diverse populations. His journal articles include a widely-used theoretical model of health lifestyle behavior and among his several books is The Social Causes of Health and Disease (Polity, 2007) that is being released in a second edition in 2013. He has conducted health lifestyle research in the U.S., and also in Western and Eastern Europe, and the former states of the Soviet Union funded through various agencies, including the European Union’s Copernicus Project. He is the immediate past president of the Research Committee on Health Sociology of the International Sociological Association.

Subject areas covered:AgingAnthropology/ SociologyAt-Risk PopulationsCancerCardiovascularChild & Adolescent HealthConsumerism/ Education/ OutreachDiet/ Obesity/ Physical InactivityEconomics/ FinanceEmerging and Re-Emerging DiseasesEnvironmental / OccupationalEpidemiology/ DemographyEthical and Legal IssuesGlobal IssuesHealth ServicesHealth SystemsHistory of Public HealthInfectious DiseasesInjuries and ViolenceMalnutrition, Infections and PovertyMeasurement and ModellingNeurological DisordersParasitic DiseasesPolicyPsychology/ PsychiatryRespiratory DiseasesSensory, GI, and OtherSexual & Reproductive HealthTobacco/ Alcohol / Drugs