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Health & Humanities Research Seminar: Symbiotic Community-Driven Ecology of Health

Location: Hybrid: Robert L. Patton Building (RLP 1.302E) & Livestream

Address: Liberal Arts Building, 305 E 23rd St C3603, Austin, TX 78712 | View Map »

Date: Monday, March 2, 2026

Time: 4:30–5:30 p.m.

Contact: Phillip Barrish

About the Event

In the next installment of the Health & Humanities Research Seminar series, Helena Hansen, M.D., Ph.D., presents “BioSocial Futures: Toward a Symbiotic Community-Driven Ecology of Health.”

Based on over a decade of participant observation in the field of Translational Social Science, this talk explores the impact of social interventions to promote health. It provides an overview of what Dr. Jonathan Metzl and Dr. Helena Hansen have called “structural competency” as an approach to clinical training and includes a case study in my research on the institutional drivers of the opioid crisis. The talk ends by describing ecological medicine interventions for mental health.

Hansen is a professor and interim chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. He is also the interim director of the Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Register to attend in-person, or email to attend virtually.

The Health and Humanities Research Seminar is sponsored by: The Humanities Institute, The College of Liberal Arts through the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities #1, Greg Hemphill, M.D. and Brenda B. Hemphill, Tom Vetter, M.D. and Imelda Vetter, and friends and supporters of the Humanities Institute.