Social Ecology, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): UCI proposes to develop a Summer Research Institute for upper division undergraduate students at the University of California, Irvine focusing on "Social Ecology, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention". The social ecological model of health and disease emphasizes the contextual analysis of illness etiology and prevention whereby multiple, diverse risk factors and health promotion strategies are examined at multiple levels of analysis ranging from molecular (e.g., biogenetic) to molar (e.g., societal stressors, urban design features), and integrated within more comprehensive transdisciplinary research and prevention programs. One of the limitations of prior cancer research is that there has been an insufficient integration of disciplinary perspectives targeting different categories, for example, of cancer risk factors situated at multiple levels of analysis (e.g., ranging from biogenetic risk factors, personality and sociodemographic correlates of cancer, biopsychosocial bases of tobacco addiction and control, macro environmental design and urban planning strategies aimed at promoting higher levels of physical activity in the population). Over a three-year period, the proposed summer research institute would train over 100 highly talented undergraduate researchers in several disciplines relevant to the analysis and reduction of disease-related risk factors and the enhancement of health promotion. The Institute will extend for six weeks during the summer months. Institute leaders will work with existing minority science programs at UCI to attract talented women and minority undergraduate researchers for participation in the Institute.