The American Journal of Epidemiology and Social Epidemiology: Past and Future

Historically, the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE) has played an important role in the development of social epidemiology as a field. To mark the centennial of the Journal, we invited commentaries from 3 sets of authors in which we asked them to reflect on the role of the AJE in advancing our understanding of the social determinants of population health and health disparities. Drs. Lisa Berkman, Mauricio Avendano, and Emilie Courtin discuss the promises and pitfalls of using experimental data (from both randomized trials and natural policy experiments) to interrogate the causal connection between social determinants and population health outcomes. Drs. Julie Palmer, Yvette Crozier, and Lynn Rosenberg look back on the first 25 years of the Black Women's Health Study and the contributions of that study to our understanding of racial disparities in health. Drs. Luisa Borrell and Natalie Crawford review the AJE's contributions to the definition and use of race and ethnicity in epidemiologic research and make recommendations for strengthening diversity and inclusion in the profession. A common thread that emerges across the invited essays is the AJE's commitment to publishing articles that engage in critical self-reflection of the discipline.