In 2004, researchers at City University of New York and the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor created The Corporations and Health Project based at Hunter College, City University of New York. Our mission is to assess the impact of corporate practices on population health and to inform public health policies and practices that can reduce the harm from such practices.

We analyze corporate practices that influence health and campaigns to change health-damaging practices across six industries: automobile food, alcohol, pharmaceutical, firearms and tobacco. The project began with an exploration of the interaction between advocacy campaigns and their industry opponents through in-depth case study research.

Corporations and Health Watch, whose website was launched in 2007, seeks to provide a forum where researchers, public health professionals, advocates and others can exchange information and compare strategies to reduce the harm from corporate practices across industries and countries. Ultimately, our goals are to identify the common characteristics of successful campaigns to change corporate practices, and to contribute to a growing movement to improve health by changing corporate practices.

Our publications include:

Freudenberg N. The capitalist diet: Energy-dense and profitable. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2019;9(1):1-2.

Freudenberg N. ToxicDocs: a new resource for assessing the impact of corporate practices on health. Journal of Public Health Policy. 2018;39(1):30-3.

Freudenberg N. Defining appropriate roles for corporations in public health research and practice. American Journal of Public Health. 2018;108(11):1440-1.

Parra DC, De Sá TH, Monteiro CA, Freudenberg N. Automobile, construction and entertainment business sector influences on sedentary lifestyles. Health Promotion International. 2018 Apr 1;33(2):239-49.

Palmedo PC, Dorfman L, Garza S, Murphy E, Freudenberg N. Countermarketing alcohol and unhealthy food: An effective strategy for preventing noncommunicable diseases? Lessons from tobacco. Annual Review of Public Health. 2017;38:119-44.

Freudenberg N.  Assessing the public health impact of the mHealth App Business. AJPH. 2017; 107(11): 1694-96.

Weishaar H, Dorfman L, Freudenberg N, Hawkins B, Smith K, Razum O, Hilton S. Why media representations of corporations matter for public health policy: a scoping review. BMC Public Health. 2016 Dec 1;16(1):899.

Freudenberg N. Charting the Pathways of Power That Undermine Public Health. American Journal of Public Health. 2016; 106, 1160-1162.

Baum FE, Sanders DM, Fisher M, Anaf J, Freudenberg N, Friel S, Labonté R, London L, Monteiro C, Scott-Samuel A, Sen A. Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: its importance and a framework. Globalization and Health. 2016;12(1):27.

Freudenberg N. Healthy-food procurement: using the public plate to reduce food insecurity and diet-related diseases. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. 2016;4(5):383-4.

Freudenberg N, Silver M, Hirsch L, Cohen N. The good food jobs nexus: A strategy for promoting health, employment, and economic development. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2016 Oct 6;6(2):283-301.

Delobelle P, Sanders D, Puoane T, Freudenberg N. Reducing the role of the food, tobacco, and alcohol industries in noncommunicable disease risk in South Africa. Health Education & Behavior. 2016;43(1_suppl):70S-81S.

Smith K, Dorfman L, Freudenberg N, Hawkins B, Hilton S, Razum O, Weishaar H. Tobacco, alcohol, and processed food industries–why do public health practitioners view them so differently?. Frontiers in public health. 2016; 11;4:64.

Freudenberg N, Franzosa E, Chisholm J, Libman K. New approaches for moving upstream: how state and local health departments can transform practice to reduce health inequalities. Health Educ Behav. 2015 ;42(1 Suppl):46S-56S.

Freudenberg, N. Lethal But Legal: Corporations, Consumption, and Protecting Public Health. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, paperback 2016.

Freudenberg N, Tsui E. Evidence, power, and policy change in community-based participatory research. Am J Public Health. 2014;104(1):11-4.

Freudenberg N, Galea S. The Impact of corporate practices on health and health policy. in Cohen, L, Chavez V, Chehimi S, eds. Prevention Is Primary: Strategies for Community Well Being. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010, pp181-204

Freudenberg N. Global business at the local level. in Global Health Urban Perspectives, eds Vlahov D, Boufford JI, Pearson C, Norris L. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010, pp. 371-388.

Freudenberg N. Campaigns to change health-damaging corporate practices. In The Bottom Line or Public Health Tactics corporations use to influence health and healthy policy, and what we can do counter them. W. Wiist, editor. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. pp. 423-450.

Freudenberg N, Olden K. Finding synergy: reducing disparities in health by modifying multiple determinants. Am J Public Health. 2010;100 Suppl 1:S25-30.

Freudenberg N, Bradley SP, Serrano M. Public health campaigns to change industry practices that damage health: An analysis of 12 case studies. Health Educ Behav. 2009;36(2):230-49 .

Olden K, Ramos RM, Freudenberg N. To reduce urban disparities in health, strengthen and enforce equitably environmental and consumer laws. J Urban Health. 2009;86(6):819-24.

Freudenberg N, Galea S. Cities of consumption: the impact of corporate practices on the health of urban populations. J Urban Health. 2008;85(4): 462-71.

Freudenberg N, Galea S. The impact of corporate practices on health: implications for health policy. J Public Health Policy. 2008;29(1):86-104.

Freudenberg N, Galea S, Fahs M. Changing corporate practices to reduce cancer disparities. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 2008;19(1):26-40.

Freudenberg N, Galea S. Corporate Practices. Chapter in Galea, S., ed., Macrosocial Determinants of Population Health. Springer, 2007. pp. 71-104.

Freudenberg N. From lifestyle to social determinants: new directions for community health promotion research and practice. Prev Chronic Dis. 2007 Jul;4(3):A47.

Freudenberg N. Public health advocacy to change corporate practices: implications for health education practice and research. Health Educ Behav. 2005;32(3):298-319.

For more information, please contact us at corporationsandhealth@gmail.com

For more information, please contact us.