Established in 2025, ESSMA builds on the work of the Social Epidemiology Research Team (ERES), founded in 2014. Our research is structured around three main themes that reflect the expertise of the team members:
Thanks to a multidisciplinary approach, these axes are explored through several cross-cutting themes:
We aim to identify social risks related to political and economic dynamics, as well as access to essential resources (food, housing, energy). Our work seeks to identify new at-risk populations and analyze their health impacts at both individual and population levels.
We study the interaction of societal, family, and individual factors contributing to health inequalities from an early age, focusing on modifiable factors to develop prevention strategies.
We approach access to care through the lens of equity, particularly at the intersection of sectors such as education and employment, with a specific emphasis on primary care.
We assess the impact of social and family policies on the health of family members and on social inequalities, particularly for children.
We develop preventive and therapeutic approaches grounded in personal, social, and systemic factors influencing mental health and addiction risks, with a focus on vulnerable groups, especially children and adolescents.
Our research focuses on the life trajectories of individuals, emphasizing health at various stages, from the perinatal period through childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. The ESSMA team stands out by combining expertise across multiple health domains (mental health, addictions, violence, access to care) with a cross-disciplinary approach to the social determinants of inequalities. Our work places particular emphasis on vulnerable populations, such as young people, pregnant women, and those in precarious situations, including the homeless and migrants.
We rely on data from existing studies for which the team holds intellectual property rights (e.g., TEMPO, ad hoc surveys on marginalized populations), as well as large-scale national surveys and cohorts (such as the Baromètre Santé, ELFE, CONSTANCES). We also conduct interventional research to evaluate the effectiveness of measures aimed at reducing social inequalities, particularly in mental health, substance use, and experiences of violence. Our expertise extends to participatory research, with several funded projects employing this approach.
ESSMA benefits from long-standing collaborations with clinicians (in primary care, psychiatry, and HIV), social scientists (in sociology, geography, and political science), and biostatisticians, both within IPLESP and externally, fostering a multidisciplinary research environment.
Our team provides a public health perspective on key issues such as mental health, psychoactive substance use, and experiences of violence and trauma. We contribute through position papers, expertise shared in national and international working groups, editorial activities in specialized journals, and collaborations with academic partners, clinicians, and associations representing individuals impacted by these issues. In doing so, our findings help healthcare professionals and public health policymakers adapt their practices and strategies.
Our team is located on a single site, on the 3rd floor of the Pierre et Marie Curie Faculty of Medicine, Pôle Saint-Antoine
27 rue de Chaligny
Paris 12°
Phone : +(33) 01.44.73.84.45
Métro : Faidherbe-Chaligny (8), Reuilly Diderot (1)
Bus : 46 – 86
