The SDOH & Place Symposium is a meeting for SDOH researchers, practitioners, and advocates to share their work on measuring SDOH and linking public health with geography, GIScience, and social science. The 3rd Annual SDOH & Place Symposium will be held in downtown Chicago from September 23-September 25th, 2026.

The Symposium is an intentionally smaller event, with sixty attendees maximum, to ensure meaningful exchange, robust discussions, and thoughtful networking. The latest cohort of SDOH & Place Fellows will share their mapping dashboard prototypes to advance health equity. Representatives from academic, public, and private sectors will share developments in their own research on measuring the social determinants of health at neighborhood-level, advances in linking design thinking with health equity research, and brainstorming what’s needed for brighter futures.

Submit an Abstract

Abstract submissions are now open! We’re looking for presentations that engage with health equity in communities, measure or operationalize the social determinants of health & structural drivers of health at neighborhood scales, integrate design practices in novel ways in health equity research, or integrate public health with GIScience & geography in novel or unexpected ways.

Presenters can present as an oral presentation (20 minutes), or as a poster presentation. Poster presentations will be digital with accompanying lightning talk presentation (5 minutes), meaning that each presenter will share a highlight of their work at the conference, and be a part of a digital poster gallery that will be engaged with both at the Symposium, as well as archived on the SDOH & Place website.

• Abstract Submissions Open from June 5, 2026 – August 16, 2026
• Abstracts will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with first round on June 19th.
• Subsequently, submission decisions will be shared within 2 weeks of submission.

Conference registration is free for all presenters. We understand that attendees need time to plan for travel, so we strongly encourage submitting as soon as you’re able.

To submit an abstract and get more details on the Symposium, please got to: symposium.sdohplace.org.