Good health is not solely the absence of disease. 

USC focuses on addressing the social determinants of health by:

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• Identifying and removing barriers to community health and wellness and integrating public health into broader topics and conversations.

• Quantifying social determinants of health, effects of trauma, economic obstacles, and racial bias in health care access, treatment, determinants.

• Ensuring that voices of impacted and under-resourced communities are reflected in broader community health considerations of data, research, and policy development. Developing and guiding multi-tiered community engagement.

• Identifying the impacts of substance use on communities, families, and individuals and impacts and remediation strategies for substance use and specific toxics, including violence and tobacco. 

• Innovating crisis responses to community emergencies. Along with meeting emergency needs, critical health issues have emerged during the COVID pandemic response that must be addressed. USC works with communities to identify better responses to a range of crises.