Quarterly Topic

Population Health

Content Type:

  • Quarterly Article

    From Tobacco to Ultraprocessed Food: How Industry Engineering Fuels the Epidemic of Preventable Disease

    February 2026 Ashley N. Gearhardt Kelly D. Brownell Allan M. Brandt

    Context: Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) now dominate the global food supply and are strongly associated with risks for heart disease, cancers, metabolic… More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    The Trump Administration Comes for Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

    January 2026 Sara Rosenbaum

    The implications of the Department of Justice’s action to eliminate the “disparate impact” test, which provides the legal foundation for removing discriminatory barriers in public health and health care. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Health Care Affordability Is Worth Fighting For

    December 2025 Heidi L. Allen Scarlett Wang

    Political analysts have argued that inflation and concerns about the economy were driving factors in the 2024 presidential election. As costs for… More

  • Quarterly Article

    Pseudoscience, Subterfuge, and Civil Resistance

    December 2025 Alan B. Cohen

    With each passing day, the United States federal government introduces yet another policy that threatens, rather than promotes, the health and… More

  • Quarterly Article

    Health Effects of the 2021 Earned Income Tax Credit Expansion on Young Adults Without Children

    December 2025 Abdinasir K. Ali Emily C. Dore Rita Hamad

    In 2021, Congress expanded the earned income tax credit (EITC)—the largest US poverty alleviation program—to young adults without children who had previously been ineligible. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Medicaid’s Essential Investments to Address Health-Related Social Needs

    November 2025 Harold A. Pollack

    nsider the story of John Miller, a fictionalized Chicagoan, who lives with a serious mental illness and co-occurring addiction disorders. He recently left a psychiatric inpatient facility.  Estranged from his family, Mr. Miller was on the verge of becoming street homeless. More

  • Quarterly Article

    Now What? Neighborhood Nursing’s Answer to the US Health Care Paradox of Spending More but Getting Less

    November 2025 ANDRE NOGUEIRA MARGARET M. FITZPATRICK ASHLEY GRESH KENNEDY MCDANIEL TIFFANY J. RISER TERRANCE LINDSAY RANDI WOODS ADEDOYIN EISAPE LISA STAMBOLIS ALICIA COOKE BRUCE LEFF ELIANA PERRIN REGINA HAMMOND Sarah L. Szanton

    Despite spending more per capita on healthcare than any other nation, the United States experiences declining life expectancy and increasing chronic disease burden—a paradox reflecting fundamental limitations in the current treatment-centered, facility-based care system. This paper introduces Neighborhood Nursing, an innovative universal care infrastructure designed to shift the US healthcare toward proactive, prevention-centered care organized geographically in neighborhoods. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    Public Concern about Threats to Public Health and Science Remains Modest 

    November 2025 Rebekah H. Nagler Erika Franklin Fowler Emily K. Vraga Alexander J. Rothman Sarah E. Gollust

    US adults’ awareness of actions threatening public health and science declined between March and September 2025, according to a new survey. More

  • Quarterly Opinion

    What Could Be Wrong with “Gold Standard Science”?

    October 2025 Joshua M. Sharfstein

    If repetition is the mother of learning, then I am learning that the second Trump administration likes to use the term “gold standard science.” It is… More

  • Quarterly Article

    Trends in Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program Funding and Its Relationship to Nursing Home Resident Care

    October 2025 Katherine A. Kennedy Cyrus Kosar Madison S. Williams Kali S. Thomas

    Funded partially by the Older Americans Act, state Long-Term Care Ombudsman Programs (LTCOPs) provide a critical role in serving as advocates for older adults in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Ombudsmen regularly visit residents, resolve disputes, and assist with discharge planning. In 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine called for increased LTCOP funding to improve nursing home (NH) quality. More