Two long-time SPH faculty members recently established a unique and timely endowed professorship.
The Bezruchka Family Endowed Professorship for the Public Understanding of Population Health seeks to fund a distinguished scholar focused on the study, teaching and dissemination of knowledge about population health. The aim is to expand a program to explore and share information about the social, economic and political determinants of health in the U.S. and in the wider context of global health.
Stephen Bezruchka and Mary Anne Mercer have dedicated their careers to the study of the social determinants of health and to pursuing social justice. Bezruchka and Mercer, both senior lecturers, see a need for improved awareness of the relatively poor health status of the U.S. population compared to other developed nations. It is their hope that the holder of the professorship will engage with others to champion a greater understanding of the factors that promote or limit the health of populations.
This new fund will continue the couple’s legacy as activists and defenders of underserved and underresourced communities, and help fulfill their long-term goal for health equity. It was made possible by an inheritance from Bezruchka’s working-class immigrant parents, Jaroslaw and Stella Bezruchka.
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