UMBC's Social Sciences Forum presents the Eckert Lecture on Health & Inequality, featuring Eric Wright, Distinguished University Professor of Sociology and Public Health Chair, Department of Sociology at Georgia State University, who will speak on Adverse Childhood Events, Trafficking, and the Health of Runaway and Homeless Youth.

Over the past decade, global interest in trafficking has grown significantly. Wright will provide an overview of his 2018 Atlanta Youth Count, a community-engaged study of runaway and homeless youth (RHY), that was designed to estimate the size of the RHY population in metro-Atlanta and the nature and extent of these vulnerable people’s involvement of sex and labor trafficking. His work highlights the special significance of early adverse childhood events in shaping both their health and well-being as well as their risk of being trafficked.

Eric Wright holds a BA in sociology from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and an MA and PhD in sociology from Indiana University Bloomington. As a medical sociologist, his research interests center on social and public policy responses to mental health and illness, substance use and addictions, sexual health, and HIV/STI prevention. In addition, Wright is actively involved in conducting research to understand and ameliorate health problems and disparities in minority and other vulnerable communities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people (LGBTQ). He has extensive experience in working with community organizations as well as local and state government to better understand community health needs and improve the effectiveness of health- and healthcare-related programs and policies. He is or has been the Principal or Co-Principal Investigator of numerous externally federally and state-funded research and evaluation projects and has published many policy briefs, technical reports, and peer-reviewed scientific papers which have appeared in medical sociology as well as interdisciplinary health, psychiatric, and health policy journals. Professor Wright also is an award winning teacher and deeply committed to involving students in research and service learning projects to make learning more relevant and to build stronger bridges between the academy and the community. Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia State University, Wright was a Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Center for Health Policy in the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Admission is free.

Organized by the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health. Cosponsored by the departments of Psychology and Gender, Women’s, + Sexuality Studies, and the Center for Social Science Scholarship.

Photo courtesy of E. Wright.