Matt Dalstrom

Background

About Matt Dalstrom

My research deals with health disparities and the impact that health policy has on access and beliefs regarding medical care. In particular, I focus on the creative and unexpected ways in which groups of people who have limited access to health care shape a medical system outside the purview of the medical establishment. From this perspective, I hope to illuminate both detrimental health-seeking behaviors and ground-up health care solutions that can be used to expand overall health care coverage. To that end, my work is guided by three general questions. 1) What do people do when they have limited access to health care? That is, what are the barriers that people face and what do they do when they become ill? 2) In what way does the community conceptualize its health care opportunities? Here I examine what avenues for medical care the community identifies and how they are ranked relative to access, quality, and cost. 3) What impact does globalization have on health practices? Within this broad topic, my research addresses the impact that migration, medical tourism, racism, economics, and the Internet have upon health care decisions and localized medical systems.