What makes us sick? How can we promote health? These are big questions that are necessarily global in scope. In an increasingly complex and globalized world, the causative factors in sickness are not just disease agents. They include our evolutionary pasts, and historical decisions, our current natural, social and built environments, how we relate to each other, and what we believe.

This course integrates knowledge from the social and life sciences, including cutting-edge research being done around the world by ASU faculty, to question our most basic assumptions about why we get sick and what we should do about it. It recognizes the need for a trans disciplinary and highly collaborative approach to addressing illness around the world, highlights the critical role of social perspectives in the global promotion of health, and advocates for the importance of health as a social justice issue.