A systems approach to public health

摘要

The modern burden of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and related conditions is the result of a complex web of interacting factors, with the individual sitting at the nexus of a network of biological, social, societal and environmental forces that together impact their risk of disease. Our biological predispositions to chronic diseases have origins deep in evolutionary history. There is no simple solution or medical intervention that will solve these problems. The Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney was designed as a new model for addressing the burden of chronic disease based on principles from evolutionary biology and ecology. It brings together multidisciplinary teams spanning philosophers to clinicians in a complex adaptive research ecosystem, from which are emerging unexpected linkages and new solutions.