Dr. Jason Adam Wasserman is associate professor of biomedical science at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, where he focuses on social and behavioral science, medical humanities, and clinical bioethics. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at Beaumont Health. 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. He works as an advocate for persons experiencing homelessness and serves on the board of directors of HOPE Adult Shelter in Pontiac, Michigan.
Dr. Wasserman recently published Social and Behavioral Sciences for health professionals (with Dr. Brian P. Hinote; Rowman and Littlefield, 2017). He also authored At Home on the Street: People, Poverty, and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness (Lynne Rienner 2010), with Jeffrey Michael Clair, Ph.D., as well as more than 50 peer reviewed articles in journals such as Social Science and Medicine, Hastings Center Report, JAMA-Pediatrics, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, American Journal of Bioethics, Journal of Medical Ethics, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, International Journal of Obesity, and Qualitative Research. His book, At Home on the Street, was awarded honorable mention, (1st runner up) for the Annual Book Award from the Association for Humanist Sociology. Additionally, he has served as Associate Editor for Blackwell’s Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society and in 2015, he won the departmental award for Educational Innovation and Educational Research.
Dr. Wasserman frequently gives invited talks on contemporary issues in health and medicine, bioethics, homelessness, and medical education. He can be reached at wasserman@oakland.edu.