William C. Cockerham received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, USA, and is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Chair Emeritus at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Research Scholar of Sociology at the College of William Mary. He is past President of the Research Committee on Health Sociology of the International Sociological Association and formerly was on the editorial boards of the American Sociological Review, Society and Mental Health, Social Currents and other journals. Currently, he is Deputy Editor of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior. Dr. Cockerham has published numerous peer-reviewed papers in academic journals and is author or editor of 20 books.

His most recent books from Routledge include Sociological Theories of Health and Illness (2021), Medical Sociology, 15th edition (2021), and The COVID-19 Reader: The Science and What It Says About the Social (2021).