Health doesn’t begin and end in a doctor’s office. It is shaped by a complex mix of biology, behavior and the environments in which people live, work and build relationships.
Rice University’s new undergraduate minor in behavioral medicine and health resilience prepares students to understand those connections. Housed in the School of Social Sciences and supported by the Institute of Health Resilience and Innovation (IHRI), the interdisciplinary program pairs coursework on the biological, psychological and social factors that influence health with a supervised research experience culminating in a scholarly project.
“The new minor in behavioral medicine and health resilience embodies the heart of what we do here in the School of Social Sciences by addressing a real-world challenge with a multidisciplinary approach and providing our students with enriching, immersive experiences,” said Rachel Kimbro, dean of social sciences.
“The connection is really the point of the minor,” said Christopher Fagundes, professor of psychological sciences and director of IHRI. “Health is never just biological, and it is never just social. Our relationships, workplaces, neighborhoods, institutions and experiences affect our behavior and our biology. Those biological changes, in turn, influence how we think, feel, function and respond to disease.”
Until now, students interested in these questions could take courses across psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics and other disciplines, but there wasn’t a single program connecting those perspectives around the question of what shapes human health.
“Behavioral medicine is really a field that sits at the intersection of many disciplines,” Fagundes said. “What brings those disciplines together is a common question: How do our behavior, experiences, social environments and biological systems interact to influence health and disease?”
That interdisciplinary approach is reflected in the faculty teaching in the minor, with instructors bringing expertise ranging from neuroscience and psychology to sociology and health equity.
Bryan Denny, associate professor of psychological sciences, approaches health through the brain. A translational affective neuroscientist, Denny studies how the brain mechanisms underlying emotional experiences relate to real-world emotional, behavioral and health outcomes.
“Ultimately one major shared goal is to be able to better understand the psychological and biological mechanisms that underlie our emotional experiences in ways that can have tangible impact in our ability to understand and intervene upon real-world health-related challenges,” Denny said.
Students in the minor will have opportunities to participate in faculty research and contribute to ongoing projects, Denny said.
But understanding health also requires looking beyond the individual.
Tony Brown, distinguished professor of sociology and deputy director of IHRI, studies health disparities and the social determinants of health, including how poverty, discrimination, environmental exposures and neighborhood conditions contribute to differences in population health. His perspective pushes students to consider not only the choices people make but also the systems and structures that shape the choices available to them.
Brown will teach Advancing Health Equity in spring 2027.
“Students enrolled in the course will learn to think ‘upstream,’ examining how social determinants of health influence who lives sicker and dies younger,” Brown said.
Together, those biological, psychological and social perspectives form the foundation of what Erin Standen, assistant professor of psychological sciences, describes as a biopsychosocial approach to health.
Standen, who teaches the minor’s core Health Psychology course, uses real-world examples to show students how those factors interact. Consider colorectal cancer prevention: Research can identify dietary patterns linked to lower cancer risk, such as eating more fiber, but knowing what to eat is only part of the equation. Researchers must also understand the psychological factors that influence people’s food choices and the social environments that determine whether healthy foods are accessible.
Culture can shape food preferences, Standen noted, while emotions can influence hunger and other biological factors can affect behavior.
“This new minor will train students to do exactly that,” Standen said. “Rather than becoming laser-focused on any one avenue, students will gain exposure to the rich interplay between biological, psychological and social factors that influence health.”
That approach extends beyond the classroom. Every student in the minor will complete a supervised research experience, applying what they’ve learned to a key health question in a laboratory, clinical, organizational or community setting.
“What that looks like will vary quite a bit depending on the student,” Fagundes said. “Someone might analyze behavioral or biological data, conduct interviews, contribute to a biomarker study, study workplace stress or clinical workflow, evaluate a health policy or community program or examine human factors in a health care setting.”
The experience culminates in a scholarly project and is designed to give students ownership of a defined piece of research while preparing them for paths that could include medicine, psychology, neuroscience, public health, epidemiology, health policy and other health-related fields.
For Fagundes, the larger goal is to prepare students to approach health with a wider lens.
“You cannot fully understand disease by understanding anatomy and physiology alone,” he said. “Health professionals also have to understand behavior, relationships, culture, workplaces, inequality, health care systems and the practical circumstances that determine whether a patient can actually follow a treatment plan.”