Mapping the Way to Good Health: The Interdisciplinary Challenges of Geographers in Medical Research

Richard Casey Sadler () and Kristian Larsen
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Richard Casey Sadler: Division of Public Health, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, Flint, MI 48502, USA
Kristian Larsen: CAREX Canada, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Geography has an important role to play in shaping the direction of medical research. In particular, its tools and theory provide essential understanding to the impacts of place on health behaviors and outcomes. Understanding some of its evolution—particularly into the subfield of medical geography—is therefore useful both for geographers and medical researchers. In this paper, we present some of the debates that geographers have grappled with, the growth of GIS (particularly in the context of medical research), some important methodological considerations that geographers help center, and some recommendations for future work at this nexus. Throughout, we speak from the perspective of geographers who have worked nearly exclusively in the health sciences since obtaining our PhDs.

Keywords: medical geography; geographic information systems; interdisciplinary research; place effects on health; social determinants of health; public health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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