Member of the Month: Sirry Alang

What brought you to IAPHS?

I was on a committee that was tasked with developing a college of health at my previous institution. It was late in 2017. A lot of the conversations resolved around the definition of population health and whether and how it is distinct from public health. I am sure many of us IAPHSers have had these conservations. A google search brought me to a population health conference that had just taken place in Austin, Texas. The conference description and agenda resonated with me, and IAPHS stayed on my radar since then.

What discipline(s) does your research fall under?

I am trained as a Health Services Researcher and a Medical Sociologist. These disciplines complement each other quite nicely and provide core theoretical frameworks and analytical tools that I use for my research. My research, broadly speaking, examines structural determinants of health and health inequities, and identifies policies that can eliminate inequities.

What other disciplines pique your interest? Are there additional disciplines you are interested in incorporating in your own research?

I am interested in Anthropology, Africana Studies, Psychology, Social Epidemiology, and Community Health. These disciplines continue to inform my research. I do a lot of work on race, racism and other structural determinants of health within and outside of health systems. I strive to ground my research in lived experiences of Black communities, and I rely on multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration. I apply critical and community-centered approaches, as well as multi-field theories of society and stratification to examine health inequities. I have been fortunate to work in Sociology, Anthropology, Africana Studies, Education, and Applied Developmental Psychology programs. This has really helped my own learning, growth, and research.

What is your favorite thing about IAPHS?

I LOVE the broad range of people from a broad range of disciplines who approach, examine and address population health in different ways. I also like the attention and support that it offers to students.

Will you be at the conference this year?

Yes! Yes, of course!

If the readers want to reach you, what’s the best way to contact you? (website, email, social media, etc.)

salang@pitt.edu is the best way to reach me. I have a website that I have not been on in a while. It is sirryalang.com. I am @ProfAlang on X, formerly known as Twitter (I had to add that:-))

Do you have pets?

I do not currently have pets. It is the first time in my life that I have not had a dog. I do love on my partner’s cats. And, I am not even a cat person.

What do you do for fun?

I watch more reality TV than I will ever admit! I also like to hang out with family and friends, and to travel.

What’s something that recently made you smile?

My 10 year old daughter making up every reason to practice her lines in Aladdin, the Disney Musical, for the 9th time last night, instead of doing math homework that will last 3 minutes or less.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?

I adopt parents everywhere I live. It is helps me build community, give and receive love and support, and parents keep you humble. My Allentown Pennsylvania mom, Elder Camilla Greene, often says the only person you can truly change/are capable of truly changing is yourself. This always grounds me—how I face the world, and approach my work and my personal life.