Research into the life trajectories and health of homeless people (particularly their mental health) requires specific survey methods. France is not absent from this international research trend, thanks to some noteworthy epidemiological research carried out in our country. We will present the main results, highlighting the extreme diversity of the people concerned, at one time or another, and of their life trajectories.
After working in field epidemiology in developing countries (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tajikistan, Afghanistan), his research at Inserm focused on epidemiological surveillance in primary care in France. Since 1997, his work has focused on social epidemiology, first in non-governmental organizations, then at Inserm, where from 2001 to 2013 he created and directed the research team on the social determinants of health and healthcare use in Unit 707 (Inserm-UPMC). He created the Equipe de recherche en épidémiologie sociale (ERES) at the Institut Pierre Louis d'épidémiologie et de santé publique (Sorbonne Université-Inserm) in 2014 and directed it until 2018.
His work focuses on health inequalities and the social determinants of health and healthcare use in urban environments, particularly in the Paris conurbation, with a particular interest in studying the health and healthcare needs of precarious or vulnerable populations. He is the author or co-author of eleven books and over two hundred articles in international scientific journals. His lectures have focused on field epidemiology in West Africa, public health in East Africa and social epidemiology at Sorbonne University. He was awarded a prize by the Paris Faculty of Medicine in 1989, the Inserm "Avenir" program in 2001 and the City of Paris medical research program in 2005.
