The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors is working to leverage state health department chronic disease prevention practice to advance work that directly impacts the social determinants of health. One concept that has gained currency in public health is the idea that one’s zip code can matter more for their lifelong health outcomes than their genetic code.  An understanding of and commitment to the importance of the social determinants of health has become more widespread over the last decade but efforts to move public health into this arena with programmatic interventions and partnerships is still nascent. This presentation will lay out concrete examples of public health doing work in this area.

 Topics explored include:

– The role of public health in addressing social determinants of health

– How community building and participatory democracy might shape public health

– The public health role in economic and community development strategies