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Jason Wasserman

Jason Adam Wasserman (PhD 2007) is an Associate Professor of biomedical science at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

He teaches on issues related to social science in medicine, medical humanities, and clinical bioethics.

He has previously held faculty positions in the Department of Sociology at Texas Tech University and the Department of Bioethics at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. His scholarly work has focused on the medicalization of homelessness, the sociological impacts of the epidemiological transition on medicine, and the influences of neighborhood infrastructures and community networks on health outcomes among the urban poor.

Along with a 2010 book entitled At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness (coauthored with Dr. Jeffrey Michael Clair), Dr. Wasserman has published four peer-reviewed book chapters and approximately 40 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Social Science and Medicine, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Journal of Medical Ethics, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, International Journal of Obesity, and Qualitative Research. His book, At Home on the Street, was awarded honorable mention (first runner up) for the Annual Book Award from the Association for Humanist Sociology. He also co-directed a documentary film, "American Refugees: Homelessness in Four Movements" (2011). Additionally he has served as associate editor for Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society and has a book with Brian Hinote titled Social and Behavioral Sciences for Health Professionals published by Rowman and Littlefield.

Dr. Wasserman majored in philosophy with a focus on applied ethics, receiving a BA from University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001. He earned a master of arts in medical sociology in 2005, and a PhD in medical sociology in 2007, both from UAB. In his current position Dr. Wasserman directs several longitudinal courses in Medical Humanities and Clinical Bioethics, as well as serving as Faculty Advisor on Professionalism. In 2015 he won the departmental award for Educational Innovation and Educational Research. He is currently working on a grant-funded study of a recuperative care facility for discharged homeless patients.