Infectious disease is no longer the biggest threat to our survival in the westernized world. Instead, human populations face diseases of slow accumulation such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and certain cancers. These modern diseases are caused by more than diet and exercise alone and are highly influenced by underlying inequalities that exist in Western societies. "The Impact of Social Factors on Health: A Critical Reader for the Physician Assistant" helps physician assistant students and professionals understand the importance of social factors and how they affect population health in US society.
The selected readings were written by prominent physician assistant and public health scholars. The text examines social policy and how the social environment is organized around gender, race, and socioeconomic position. The reader is designed specifically to prepare more culturally competent physician assistants in an ever-changing society. Dedicated to making physician assistants fully aware of critical information needed for best practices, "The Impact of Social Factors on Health" is well suited to courses on cultural competency as well as public and preventative health and epidemiology. We encourage faculty to use these insightful chapters for key classroom discussions with their students.
Dr. Darron Smith is an assistant professor in The University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Department of Physician Assistant Studies. With over 15 years of clinical experience helping the medically underserved, his research and scholarship now focuses on improving the social conditions that cause disease.
Tasha Sabino is a practicing physician assistant with experience in acute and family medicine. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Physician Assistant Program at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee, and researches health inequities as they impact vulnerable populations.

White Parents, Black Children looks at the difficult issue of race in transracial adoptions-particularly the adoption by white parents of children from different racial and ethnic groups. Despite the long history of troubled and fragile race relations in the United States, some people believe the United States may be entering a post-racial state where race no longer matters, citing evidence like the increasing number of transracial adoptions to make this point. However, White Parents, Black Children argues that racism remains a factor for many children of transracial adoptions. Black children raised in white homes are not exempt from racism, and white parents are often naive about the experiences their children encounter. This book aims to bring to light racial issues that are often difficult for families to talk about, focusing on the racial socialization white parents provide for their transracially adopted children about what it means to be black in contemporary American society. Blending the stories of adoptees and their parents with extensive research, the authors discuss trends in transracial adoptions, challenge the concept of 'colorblind' America, and offer suggestions to help adoptees develop a healthy sense of self.

When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide tells the story of Brandon Davies' dismissal from Brigham Young University's NCAA playoff basketball team to illustrate the thorny intersection of religion, race, and sport at BYU and beyond. Author Darron T. Smith analyzes the athletes dismissed through BYU's honor code violations and suggests that they are disproportionately African American, which has troubling implications. He ties these dismissals to the complicated history of negative views toward African Americans in the LDS faith. These honor code dismissals elucidate the challenges facing black athletes at predominantly white institutions. Weaving together the history of the black athlete in America and the experience of blackness in Mormon theology, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide offers a timely and powerful analysis of the challenges facing African American athletes in the NCAA today.

When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide tells the story of Brandon Davies' dismissal from Brigham Young University's NCAA playoff basketball team to illustrate the thorny intersection of religion, race, and sport at BYU and beyond. Author Darron T. Smith analyzes the athletes dismissed through BYU's honor code violations and suggests that they are disproportionately African American, which has troubling implications. He ties these dismissals to the complicated history of negative views towards African Americans in the LDS faith. These honor code dismissals elucidate the challenges facing black athletes at predominantly white institutions. Weaving together the history of the black athlete in America and the experience of blackness in Mormon theology, When Race, Religion, and Sport Collide offers a timely and powerful analysis of the challenges facing African American athletes in the NCAA today.