This advanced HBSE class introduces students to the key concepts of life course theory and applies those concepts to understanding how economic disadvantage affects human development. We will examine how poverty and inequality experienced in various social contexts—such as family, school, and neighborhood—interacts with individual characteristics to affect health and development. Class readings and discussion will answer such questions as: How does the timing of poverty matter in a person's life? How does poverty “get under the skin” (to affect physiology)? How do individuals cope, adapt, and resist the effects of disadvantage? How does economic disadvantage interact with race, ethnicity, and immigrant status to structure individual outcomes? And, how is economic disadvantage transmitted across generations? A nuanced understanding of the effects of economic disadvantage on individual opportunities and outcomes will help students to provide effective clinical services and to design promising clinical and policy interventions.