Adrienne Strong

Medical anthropology, hospital ethnography, theories of care, pain care practices, and maternal mortality

Gainesville, FL, 32603 United States

I am a medical anthropologist and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Florida and affiliate faculty with the Center for African Studies and the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research, with a joint Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, USA and the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. I have long studied maternal mortality and women's health in Tanzania, focusing on theories of care for pregnant women. In my new NSF funded research (2022-2025), I am examining the meanings and formation of pain care practices in Tanzania across multiple levels in two regions, including the national Ocean Road Cancer Institute and Tosamaganga District Hospital. The common threads between all of my projects are interests in theories of care, everyday ethics, hospital ethnography, bio bureaucracy and the expansion of biomedical care and power, and patient-provider interactions. I supervise Ph.D. students interested in maternal and reproductive health, hospital ethnography, and the anthropology of biomedicine in a variety of geographic locations. I will be on parental leave until the end of October 2023. If you are interested in applying to UF to work with me, please send me an email.

Before my current position, I was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Columbia University's Mailman School of Health, in the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) Program in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health and a Fellow at the Columbia Population Research Center.

My first book, winner of the 2021 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania, available from University of California Press November 3, 2020, focuses on the inner workings of a government regional referral hospital in Tanzania, examining how institutional structures related to hierarchy, bureaucracy, historical precedents, communication and other factors, may influence the capacity of the institution to provide effective maternal healthcare during times of obstetric crisis. My research focuses on biomedical healthcare providers and administrators, groups that are often overlooked in the context of medical anthropology in sub-Saharan Africa. I contextualize the hospital ethnography with interviews, participant observation, and focus group discussions in communities throughout the region, as well as through the use of primary archival sources from the colonial and post-independence eras. This is the first ethnography to examine the issue of maternal mortality in a low resource setting from this perspective and in the setting of a biomedical facility, complementing the existing work of anthropologists of reproduction who have worked at the community level.

I worked in the Rukwa Region for my PhD fieldwork, which I conducted from January 2014- August 2015. From September 2010 through July 2011, I conducted research on access to healthcare services during pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period in the Singida Region of Tanzania. For my postdoctoral research in 2017 and 2018 I conducted a project examining a birth companion pilot program in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, which focused on how companions impact the social dynamics of health center maternity wards and the care provided in those settings. This project also included an 80-question cultural consensus survey and analysis around the cultural domain of care and support for pregnant women.

This is my personal website, which includes updates on my research, collaborations, conference presentations and papers, publications, teaching, and critical responses to current events related to women's health and reproduction.

Mentions and Public Anthropology

Leah M. Ashe Prize for the Anthropology of Medically Induced Harm Honorable Mention 2022

Eileen Basker Memorial Prize 2021

ReproNetwork Adele E. Clarke Book Award Honorable Mention 2021

Paper Prize

Adrienne Strong, PhD

University of Florida

Department of Anthropology

Turlington Hall
P.O. Box 117305
Gainesville, FL 32611-7305 


AFFILIATIONS

2023-present Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

2018-2023 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Affiliate Faculty: Center for African Studies; Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research, University of Florida

2017-2018 National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) Program, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, USA

2017-2018 Fellow, Columbia Population Research Center, Columbia University in the City of New York, New York, NY, USA

2013-2017 Ph.D. Candidate, Health, Care, and the Body Group, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2013-2017 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA

2012-2013 Ph.D. Exchange Student, L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Medical anthropologist with fieldwork experience in Tanzania (2007-2019) conducting qualitative and mixed methods ethnographic research in health facilities in remote areas. Research interests in maternal death in healthcare facilities, respectful maternity care, stillbirth and accountability, health system financing in ethnographic perspective, and human resources for health in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as men’s sexual and reproductive health in East Africa. Interests in bureaucracy, theoretical approaches to the study of institutions, hospital ethnography, as well as theoretical concepts of risk, uncertainty, and care. My research interests sit at the nexus of anthropology, gender studies, science and technology studies, and history.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Teaching Award for 2022-2023

  • Leah M. Ashe Prize for the Anthropology of Medically Induced Harm, 2022 Honorable Mention for Documenting Death

  • Winner of the 2021 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize from the Society for Medical Anthropology for Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania

  • Over $750,000 in extramural funding for research and graduate school support since 2010, including Fulbright IIE, Fulbright-Hays, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, P.E.O. Scholar Award, National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (SBE SPRF), and National Science Foundation Senior Award

  • Fieldwork experience and National Science Foundation sponsored training in designing and conducting systematic mixed methods and qualitative research projects in cultural anthropology

  • History of interdisciplinary collaboration in publishing, fieldwork, and consulting

EDUCATION

2017    Ph.D. Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis (May 2017)

              Ph.D. joint degree in Anthropology, Universiteit van Amsterdam (April 2017)

Dissertation: The Maternity Ward as Mirror: Maternal Death, Biobureaucracy, and Institutional Care in the Tanzanian Health Sector, jointly advised by John Bowen and Anita Hardon

2016    Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Washington University in St. Louis (May 2016)

2013    M.A. Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis (May 2013)

2010    B.S. with Research Distinction in Biomedical Science, Minor French Literature, magna cum laude, The Ohio State University (June 2010)                                                                                                                      

PUBLICATIONS

2023    Strong, A. and R. Powis, eds. Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective 8th edition. London, England: Routledge. Under contract, 250,000 words to be delivered to publisher December 1, 2023

2022    Strong, A. and E. Varley. Bodies in Peril: Healthcare workers on the frontlines of global maternal health interventions. Global Public Health, special issue. Under review.

2022    Strong, A. Routinized caring or a “call” to nursing?: Intergenerational Shifts and Continuities in Nursing in Rukwa, Tanzania accepted for In and Out of Biomedicine: Anthropology in the Hospital, eds. William Olsen and Carolyn Sargent, Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

2021    Strong, A. Maternal Mortality in Routledge Handbook of the Anthropology of Reproduction, Sallie Han and Cecilia Tomori, eds.

2021    Strong, A. and T.L. White. Re-examining local norms of care and abuse in the second stage of labor in Tanzanian maternity care, Medical Anthropology 40(4): 307-321. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2021.1884075

2020    Strong, A. Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, in press available November 3, 2020. https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520310704/documenting-death

2020    Strong, A. and T. White. Re-examining local norms of care and abuse in Tanzanian maternity care, under review Medical Anthropology.

2019    Strong, A. and T.L. White. Using paired cultural modeling and cultural consensus analysis to maximize program suitability in local contexts, accepted, Health Policy and Planning https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czz096

2018 Strong, A. Causes and effects of occupational risk for healthcare workers on the maternity ward of a Tanzanian Hospital, Human Organization 77(3), 273-286. https://doi.org/10.17730/0018-7259.77.3.273

2018  Strong, A., M. Cogburn, and S. Wood. "Choiceless Choice: Homebirth, Hospital Birth, and Birth Registration in Tanzania in Birth in 8 Cultures, Robbie Davis-Floyd, Melissa Cheyney, and Carolyn Sargent, eds. Forthcoming

2017    Strong, A. and D.A. Schwartz. "Effects of the Ebola epidemic on health care of pregnant women- Stigmatization with and without infection" in Pregnant in the Time of Ebola: Women and Their Children in the 2013-2015 West African Epidemic, D.A. Schwartz, S. Abramowitz, J. Anoko, Eds., Springer, forthcoming

2017 Strong, A. "Working in Scarcity: Effects on social interactions and biomedical care in a Tanzanian hospital” Social Science & Medicine http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.02.010 

2016    Strong, A. and D.A. Schwartz. “Anthropological aspects of risk to pregnant women during the 2013-2015 multinational Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.” Health Care for Women International http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2016.1167896

2015    Strong, A. “The convergence of social and institutional dynamics resulting in maternal death in Rukwa, Tanzania” in Maternal Mortality: Risk Factors, Anthropological Perspectives, Prevalence in Developing Countries and Preventative Strategies for Pregnancy- Related Death. Ed. David Schwartz. Nova Science Publishers

2015    Marwa, S and A. Strong. “Three case studies and experiences of maternal death at a regional referral hospital in Rukwa, Tanzania” in Maternal Mortality: Risk Factors, Anthropological Perspectives, Prevalence in Developing Countries and Preventative Strategies for Pregnancy-Related Death. Ed. David Schwartz. Nova Science Publishers

Works in Progress


Public Anthropology and Other Publications

2022    “Interview: Deaths of Pregnant Women are Particularly Tragic” Iran Daily (English language newspaper in Iran)January 25, interview about book Documenting Death by Mohammad Memarian

2020    “COVID-19 and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)/Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH): Round 2,” online collection through Medical Anthropology Quarterly, co-curated with Dr. Emma Varley, Brandon University. August 12, 2020. http://medanthroquarterly.org/2020/08/12/covid-19-and-srh-mnh-a-curated-online-collection-for-medical-anthropology-quarterly-2/

2020    “COVID-19 and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)/Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH): Round 1,” online collection through Medical Anthropology Quarterly, co-curated with Dr. Emma Varley, Brandon University. June 19, 2020 http://medanthroquarterly.org/2020/06/19/covid-19-and-sexual-and-reproductive-health-srh-maternal-and-newborn-health-mnh-a-curated-online-collection/   

2016    Maternal Health: A Dangerous Birth, photoessay on SAPIENS.org https://www.sapiens.org/culture/maternal-death-rate-tanzania/

2016    Washington People: Adrienne Strong https://source.wustl.edu/2016/08/washington-people-adrienne-strong/

2014    Hospitals and Maternal Death in Tanzania, GlobalHealthHub.org http://www.globalhealthhub.org/2014/06/21/hospitals-maternal-death-tanzania-adrienne-strong/

2014    Personal fieldwork blog mentioned in Around the Web Digest, SavageMinds.org, weeks of July 14th and August 10th http://savageminds.org/2014/07/14/around-the-web-digest-week-of-july-6/

SELECTED AWARDS AND GRANTS

2023                National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) supplement for two students, $11,680

2023                UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Teaching Award

2023                National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Division, Cultural Anthropology, Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, PI. Shreemoyee Sil, Co-PI. Navigating Care: A Study of Pediatric Cancer Patients Undergoing Palliative Care, January 15, 2023- December 31, 2023, $30,500. Award no. 2242099.

2022                National Science Foundation Research Experience for Graduate Students (REG) supplement for one student, $5,621

2022                Society for Medical Anthropology, Leah M. Ashe Prize for the Anthropology of Medically Induced Harm, Honorable Mention for Documenting Death

Given for the best use of ethnographic methods to explore the limits of health care, conceptualized broadly to include harms and injustices emergent from the healing endeavor, at small (e.g., iatrogenic) or large (e.g., systemic and structural) scales, whether immediate or lingering, intrinsic to treatment or the result of error, negligence, intention, or decision resulting from denial of care.

2022 National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Division, Cultural Anthropology, Senior Award for The Meanings of Pain and the Formation of Pain Care Practices in Tanzania, June 1, 2022-May 31, 2025, $349,899

2021                ReproNetwork, Adele E. Clarke Book Award Honorable Mention

The Adele E. Clarke Book Award is for an outstanding socio-cultural study of reproductive processes, experiences, technologies, politics, and/or practices. The biannual competition is open to historians, sociologists, anthropologists, public intellectuals, activists, and others. Initiated by the ReproNetwork community in 2014, the Adele E. Clarke Book Award honors a groundbreaking work judged to be the most potentially influential contribution to scholarship on reproduction. Influence may reflect the book’s quality, timeliness, innovation, and/or overall impact on the field of reproductive studies.

2021                Society for Medical Anthropology, Eileen Basker Memorial Book Prize, $2000

 Awarded annually for a significant contribution to scholarship on gender and health by a scholar (or scholars) from any discipline or nation for a specific book, article, film, or exceptional PhD thesis produced within the preceding three years. The Prize is awarded to the work judged to be the most courageous, significant, and potentially influential contribution to this area of scholarship.

2020                University of Florida Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Fund, $12,000

2020                University of Florida competitive internal nomination for Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (one junior scholar selected from the university)

2020                University of Florida Center for African Studies, Research Tutorial Abroad Grant, $11,000

2019                University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Travel Grant, $526

2019-20        University of Florida International Center Global Fellow, $5000

2019                University of Florida Center for African Studies Faculty Travel Grant, $700

2019                National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, PI. Rebecca Henderson, Co-PI: Oncology Knowledge Practices in Haiti, $24,146 

2017-19         National Science Foundation Directorate of Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, $157,000

2017                Society for Applied Anthropology, Peter K. New Student Research Prize, 3rd place for paper "We Swim in Blood:" Exposure to risk and forms of care on the maternity ward of a Tanzanian hospital, $800

2016-17          Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Washington University in St. Louis, $22,000

2015                 Society for Medical Anthropology Travel Award for travel to American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, $500

2015-16           P.E.O. Scholar Award from International Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, $15,000

2015-16           National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, $15,125

2014-15           Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant, $23,718

2011-16           National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, $185,000

2010-11           Fulbright Institute for International Education, Student Research Grant to Tanzania, $25,000

2006-10           Presidential Scholarship, The Ohio State University, $100,000

INVITED TALKS

2023    Leiden University, the Netherlands. ERC Globalizing Palliative Care Project, Unfolding Finitudes: Current Ethnographies of Aging, Dying, and End-of-Life Care webinar series (June 6): Book talk on Documenting Death

2023    University of Houston, African American and African Studies, Maternal Health Symposium (April 17): Maternal Health and Death in Tanzania

2023    University of Florida, College of Medicine, Local/Global Health Equity Seminar (March 16): Studying Health Systems and Disparities Cross-Culturally

2022    University of Florida, College of Medicine, Okun History of Medicine Lecture Series (February 15): The Stories We Tell About the Deaths We See 

2022    Oxford University, Oxford, England. Fertility and Reproductive Studies Group (FRSG), in the Human Sciences Centre, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Seminar for their 2022 seminar series, Fertility and Vulnerability (February 7): Who’s Vulnerable to Maternal Death?: Nurses at Risk in Tanzanian Maternity Care

2021    Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, Guest Lecture on maternal mortality (October 20)

2021    Luther College, Decorah, Iowa. Book talk and campus visit (September 22-24)

2020 Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health Seminar Series in Gender, Sexuality and Health (November 18): Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania

2020    University of Florida, Center for African Studies Friday Baraza (November 13): Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania

2020    Vrije Universiteit Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (November 4): Plastic Teeth, Malaria, and Pumpkin Pregnancies: What is medical anthropology and what can it contribute? 

2020    Washington University in St. Louis, Medicine in Society (October 27): Discussion of Documenting Death: Maternal Mortality and the Ethics of Care in Tanzania

2019    UNICEF, UN Women, WHO, UNFPA Forum on Experiences of Care for Pregnant Women, Newborns, and their Families in sub-Saharan Africa, Dakar, Senegal (October 21-23): Are birth companions the way forward? Anthropological analysis of the successes and failures of a birth companion pilot program in reducing disrespect and abuse

2017    Columbia University Averting Maternal Death and Disability group (May 11): The Maternity Ward as Mirror, summary of dissertation research

2016    P.E.O. Sisterhood Chapter Meeting- St. Louis, MO (March 5)

2015    Fulbright Reflection Series- U.S. Embassy, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (August 4): Bureaucracy, Life, and Death on the Maternity Ward of a Tanzanian Hospital

2014    Islamic Medical Association and the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations Annual Conference- Arusha, Tanzania (August 9-10): Improving a comprehensive understanding of maternal death 

2011    Fulbright Reflection Series- U.S. Embassy, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (July 21): Through the Voices of the Women: Birth culture and maternal healthcare in Singida, Tanzania

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2023    Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Annual Meeting- Cincinnati, Ohio (March 28-April 1). Paper: Challenges in Pain Management in Tanzania

2022    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Seattle, Washington (November 9-13). Landscapes of Surveillance Care in Reproductive Health (co-organizer).

2022    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Seattle, Washington (November 9-13). Paper: Self-Testing as Surveillance and Care in the Trying to Conceive Community (co-authored with Rahi Patel, UF undergraduate)

2022    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Seattle, Washington (November 9-13). Paper: Bureaucracy/Surveillance/Care: The Partograph in Tanzanian Maternity Care

2022    Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) Annual meeting- Salt Lake City, Utah (March 22-26). Hidden Threats: Patient Decision-Making around Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Surgery

2021    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Baltimore, Maryland (November 17-21). Data Representations and Representing data: Ethnography of a Birth Companion Pilot Program in Tanzania

2021    Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting (virtual) (March 22-27). Paper: Ingenuity in the Face of Neglect: Nurses in Rural Tanzania

2021    Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting (virtual) (March 22-27). Double panel with the Council on Anthropology and Nursing (CONAA): Beyond Nursing and Care: Thinking with and from Nurses and Nursing (co-organizer and co-chair).

2020    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- cancelled due to COVID-19. Roundtable organizer, Caring from the Outside: Creating Spaces for Black Maternal and Infant Care

2020    Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) and European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) Meeting- (virtual) Prague, Czech Republic. (August 18-21). Paper: Hospital Ethnography in Low-Resource Settings and Complicated “Goods”

2020    ANTHROPOS 2020, Society for Medical Anthropology Meeting- Havana, Cuba. (March 9-12) Paper: Invoking Kinship to Call for Care: Women and Birth Companions in Kigoma, Tanzania

2019    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Vancouver, BC Canada. (November 20-24) Double panel “Seeing men when they are already there: Ethnographies of Men and Pregnancy/Childbirth Parts 1 and 2” (co-organizer)

2019    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Vancouver, BC Canada. (November 20-24) Paper: Husbands as Midwives and Other Impossible Happenings: Men and Pregnancy in Tanzania

2019    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Vancouver, BC Canada. (November 20-24) Group flash presentation session entitled, “Caring, Kinning, and Cunning: Masculinity in Theory and Practice” (discussant)

2019    Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting- Portland, OR (March 19-23) Using Cultural Consensus Analysis (CCA) to Reexamine Local Norms of Care and Disrespect and Abuse in Maternity Care in Tanzania on the panel Anthropological Examinations of Birthing Care (T.L. White, co-author)

2017    Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting- Santa Fe, New Mexico (March 28- April 1) Traditional Birth Attendants in the Face of the Failures of Biomedicine: A Case Study from Lowe, Tanzania

2017    Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting- Santa Fe, New Mexico (March 28- April 1) Reexamining the Traditional: Historical and Global Perspectives of the Roles of Traditional Birth Attendants in Maternal Health Care

                     Panel Co-Organizer and Co-Chair

2016    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Minneapolis, Minnesota (November 15-20) Vital Conjunctures and Breached Initiations: Constructing Adulthood Under Conditions of Precarity

                      Panel Co-Organizer and Co-Chair

2016    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Minneapolis, Minnesota (November 15-20): We Swim in Blood: Risk, Healthcare Providers, and Social Interactions on a Tanzanian Maternity Ward

2015    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Denver, Colorado (November 18-22): Partograph as Mutable Mobile: The Social Life of a Document on a Tanzanian Maternity Ward

Co-Chair and Panel Co-Organizer (Health Systems in the Global South: New Ethnographic Approaches)

2015    European Association of Social Anthropologists Medical Anthropology Section MAGic 2015 Conference- Brighton, England (September 9-11): Ethnography as Mediator Between Community and Maternal Healthcare Providers in Rukwa, Tanzania

2013    American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting- Chicago, Illinois (November 20-24): Home birth in St. Louis, MO: Tenuous Legalization

2013    The Fantastic and the Banal: Rethinking Bureaucratic Authority- University of Colorado, Boulder (September 27-29): Bureaucracy and Birth: Life and Death on the Maternity Ward of the Rukwa Regional Hospital

2013    Society for Medical Anthropology/European Association of Social Anthropologists Medical Anthropology Section Joint Meeting- Tarragona, Spain (June 12-14): Fierce Nurses and Bad Welcomes: Theorizing women’s perceptions of patient-provider interactions and encounters in the biomedical care setting in Singida, Tanzania

2012    Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting- Baltimore, Maryland (March 27-31): Shut Up and Push!: Factors Influencing Health Care Seeking Behaviors During Pregnancy and Childbirth in Rural Tanzania

Session Chair

RESEARCH AND FIELD EXPERIENCE

University of Florida Department of Anthropology

2022-2025       The Meanings of Pain Care and the Formation of Pain Care Practices in Tanzania, Principal Investigator. National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Division, Cultural Anthropology, Senior Award, June 1, 2022-May 31, 2025, $349,899

                             Ethnographic exploration of pain care practices in Tanzania in two regions, across hospital settings and community sites in Dar es Salaam and Iringa region. Collaborating with the Ocean Road Cancer Institute and Iringa District Commission and Tosamaganga Regional Hospital. Three-year project also supports a full-time postdoc researcher and student research experiences in the Tanzania in 2023 and 2024. 

University of Florida Department of Anthropology and Department of Cardiology

2021-2022       Disparities in Peripheral Arterial Disease Diagnosis and Treatment in Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Regions of Florida, Co-Principal Investigator with PI Dr. Khanjan Shah, Dept. of Cardiology

             Qualitative and ethnographic portion of the study focuses on community barriers to early access to and care for peripheral arterial disease in Florida using a representative community in northwest Florida. Primarily responsible for IRB approval, qualitative interviews, and focus groups, participant recruitment, and qualitative data analysis. 

University of Florida Department of Anthropology and Department of Cardiology

2022               Qualitative Analysis of Patients with High-Risk Coronary Artery Disease, Co-Investigator with PI Dr. Khanjan Shah, Dept. of Cardiology.

Qualitative interviews with patients undergoing procedures for their coronary artery disease to discuss patient-centered outcomes and decision making. 

University of Florida Department of Anthropology and Department of Surgery, Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy

2020-present   Patient Centered Outcomes after Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA), Co-Investigator with PI Dr. Samir Shah, Dept. of Surgery

             Qualitative and ethnographic portion of the study focuses on patient and provider decision making in clinic leading up to surgery for AAA, and patient perceptions of outcomes post-surgery

Columbia University Department of Population and Family Health, Averting Maternal Death and Disability Group

2017-2019       Companionship During Childbirth: Power relations and social dynamics in communities and health facilities in Kigoma, Tanzania (August 2017-July 2019)

           Postdoctoral research project including 11 months of fieldwork in Kigoma, Tanzania planned for 2018. Funded by the National Science Foundation. 

 Washington University in St. Louis Department of Anthropology

2014-15           The Maternity Ward as Mirror: Maternal Death, Biobureaucracy, and Institutional Care in the Tanzanian Health Sector, advised by Dr. Carolyn Sargent (January 2014-August 2015)

Doctoral dissertation research on the institutional, historical, and social contributors to maternal death within the biomedical healthcare setting in the Rukwa region of Tanzania, using systematic and mixed research methods

Committee members: Dr. John Bowen, Anthropology; Dr. Brad Stoner, Anthropology; Dr. Shanti Parikh, Anthropology; Dr. Priscilla Song, Anthropology; Dr. Anita Hardon, University of Amsterdam, Anthropology.

2012-13           Breast Cancer in French Immigrants from the Senegal River Basin living in Paris, France, advised by Dr. Carolyn Sargent, (June 2012-March 2013)

Interdisciplinary and international collaborative research with researchers from French institutions and Washington University in St. Louis Department of Anthropology and Brown School of Social Work and Public Health

Conducted preliminary data collection from patient records at a Parisian hospital

Contributed to planning meetings and recommended potential use of GIS to delimit geographic boundaries for data collection in neighborhoods in certain Parisian districts

2011-12           The Voice of the Mother: Homebirth in St. Louis, Missouri, advised by Dr. Priscilla Song, (September 2011-December 2012)

Conducted participant observation and interviews with women in the homebirth community in St. Louis on legal challenges to accessing homebirth options, as well as individual motivations for pursuing midwifery care and out of hospital births

Fulbright Student Research Grant, affiliated with Outreach International, Singida Region, Tanzania

2010-11           Birth culture of the Singida Region of Tanzania and barriers to the use of healthcare services during pregnancy and childbirth (September 2010- July 2011)

Conducted independent research for eleven months in Singida, Tanzania including semi-structured interviews, surveys, and participant observation in villages, village dispensaries, and the Singida Regional Hospital

The Ohio State University Department of Anthropology and Singida Region Government Hospital

2008-10           Barriers to the uptake of healthcare services during pregnancy in rural Tanzania, advised by Dr. Barbara Piperata, (October 2008-June 2010)

Project won 1st place in Social and Behavioral Science category at Ohio State’s Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, 2010

ADVISING

2023-present   Emmy Lukens-Bull, MA/PhD student, University of Florida (committee member)

2023-present   Chris Fuglestad, PhD student, University of Florida (committee member)

2022-present   Mahir Rahman, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2022-present   Adriana Fortier, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2022-present   Jacob Roman, undergraduate, University of Florida, NSF REU research advisor

2022-present   Emma Hanley, undergraduate, University of Florida, NSF REU research advisor, undergraduate thesis advisor

2022-present   Yuqi Zhuang, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2022-present   Chloe Warpinski, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2022-2023       Fraleigh Kraus, Masters of Development Practice (MDP) student, University of Florida (external committee member)

2022-present   Madison Hyman, PhD student, University of Florida (committee co-chair)

2021-2023       Graylin Skates, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2021-2023       Gabrielle Ray, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2021-2023       Drew McNally, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2021-present Chloe Bennink, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2021-present   Frances Semwaza, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2021-2022       Easton Brundage, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2021 Christina Avello, undergraduate, University of Florida, senior thesis advisor

2020-present   Suvendu Ghatak, PhD student, University of Florida Dept. of History (external committee member)

2020-2022 Yveline Saint Louis, undergraduate, University of Florida, senior thesis advisor

2020    David Dillon, PhD Candidate, University of Florida (committee member)

2020-2022    Ripley Olmstead, undergraduate, University of Florida, senior thesis advisor

2019-present   Corinne Futch, PhD student, University of Florida (committee co-chair)

2019-2021    Isabella Schultz, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2019-2021    Félicien Masanga Maisha, PhD Candidate, University of Florida (committee chair)

2019-present   Shreemoyee Sil, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2019-2021    Chu Hsiao, MD/PhD Candidate, University of Florida (committee member)

2019-2020        Veronica Phifer, undergraduate, University of Florida, honors thesis advisor

2018-2023    Sarah Staub, PhD student, University of Florida (committee chair)

2018-2022    Rebecca Henderson, MD/PhD Candidate, University of Florida (committee chair)

2018-2022    Megan Cogburn, PhD Candidate, University of Florida (committee co-chair)

2018-2019       Rinat Tal, undergraduate, Washington University in St. Louis, summer research advisor

2018                Tara White, Global Health Master’s student at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Advised for 6-month internship, including project proposal and 12 weeks of fieldwork in Tanzania. Anticipated final products include two publications.  

TEACHING EXPERIENCE 

University of Florida

2021 Instructor of Record: ANT 2464 Things Your Dr. Never Told You: Intro to Medical Anthropology

2021 Instructor of Record: ANT 3302 Global Gender Issues

2021 Instructor of Record: ANT 4930/ANG 6930 Hospital Ethnography: Theory, Method, & Ethics

2020 Instructor of Record: ANT 2464 Things Your Dr. Never Told You: Intro to Medical Anthropology

2020 Instructor of Record: ANT 3302 Global Gender Issues

2020 Instructor of Record: ANT 3930 Global Reproductive Technologies

2019 Instructor of Record: ANG 6930 Foundations for a Career in Anthropology

2019 Instructor of Record: ANT 3302 Sex Roles in Cross-Culturally

2019 Instructor of Record: ANT 6930/4930 Anthropology of Pregnancy, Birth, and Early Childhood Development

2018 Faculty Supervisor: Online ANT 3478 Global Health Culture (SP 19, under development Fall 18)

Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO

2017    Guest Lecture on adolescent pregnancy and maternal mortality for Gender, Youth, and Global Health, Spring 2017

2017    Guest Lecture on maternal mortality and hospital ethnography for Transnational Reproductive health, Spring 2017

2017    Instructor of Record: Global Gender Issues, Spring 2017, University College

2016   Guest Lecture on hospital ethnography and working conditions in Tanzanian hospitals in Inequality, Hierarchy, and Difference, Fall 2016

2016    Instructor of Record: Introduction to Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Spring 2016

2012    Teaching Assistant: Gender, Culture and Madness in Fall 2012, taught by Dr. Rebecca Lester

2016    Invited Respondent for Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship 2nd Annual Research Forum, Spring 2016- commented on student research theses

2016    Guest Lecture on maternal mortality for Transnational Reproductive Health, Spring 2016

2016    Guest Lecture on birth and maternal mortality for Introduction to Medical Anthropology, Spring 2016

2015    Guest Lecture on methods for systematic qualitative text analysis for Research Methods in Anthropology Seminar, Fall 2015

2015    Guest Lecture on research methods in anthropology for Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Fall 2015

2015    Guest Lecture on maternal and reproductive health for Introduction to Medical Anthropology, Fall 2015

CONSULTING

2015    Plan International, Jhpiego, and Africare Tanzania, (June-July 2015)

Advised program officers as they were writing a proposal for a new 5-year, multi-million-dollar project to operate in the Rukwa and Geita regions of Tanzania, funded by the partner organizations and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

Contributed primary, ethnographic research data during planning meetings to determine goals and design of new project in order to fulfill the objectives of lowering maternal and infant mortality in Tanzania

Produced briefing documents based on primary ethnographic research on topics related to the regional hospital’s Health Management Team, community concerns and self-identified needs, and suggestions for improving the maternal death audit procedures being followed in the Rukwa region

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

2018-present Society for Applied Anthropology

2017-present  African Studies Association

2016-present   American Ethnological Society

2014-present   White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, Tanzania

2012-present   Council on Anthropology of Reproduction

2009-present   Society for Medical Anthropology

2009-present   American Anthropological Association

2010-present   Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, Associate Member

2011-present   Fulbright Alumni Association

 EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

2016-17           Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Amsterdam – Health, Care, and the Body, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) (August 2016- January 2017)

2012-13           Washington University in St. Louis, University of Amsterdam, and L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris France: Three-part exchange program focused on the anthropology of institutions (September 2012- June 2013)

 LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

 English- native

Swahili- fluent

French- highly proficient

Spanish- proficient reading comprehension

German- university instruction, limited proficiency

OTHER TRAINING

 2013    National Science Foundation Summer Institute for Research Design, Duke Marine Lab, North Carolina, USA (July 14-August 3, 2013): Three weeks of intensive instruction on anthropological research design and methods, including training in qualitative and mixed methods data analysis software packages including SYSTAT, UCINET, ANTHROPAC, and MAXQDA.

2013    Doula (birth attendant) training through DONA International (September 2013): Participated in three days of intensive training on the duties of a doula as a labor support person.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

2020-22 Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR) Co-Chair

2020-21         Campus interviewer for Fulbright Student Program, University of Florida

2020-present   Member, Department of Anthropology Research, Writing, and Curriculum Task Force of the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee

2020-present   Faculty advisor and member, HIV/AIDS Task Force, University of Florida student-led research, advocacy, and education initiative to address stigma and lack of information regarding HIV and STI rates on campus with a focus on minority groups 

2020-present   Faculty advisor, Women’s Health Advocacy Alliance, University of Florida undergraduate student group 

2020-present   Faculty advisor, Gator Alliance for World Health, University of Florida undergraduate student group

2020-present   Co-chair, Council on Anthropology of Reproduction, special interest group of the Society for Medical Anthropology

2020-present   Member, Center for African Studies Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) committee

2020                 Book reviewer for Oxford University Press

2019-present   Co-organizer, University of Florida Center for African Studies Social Change, Development, and Health in Africa Working Group

2019-20         National Science Foundation Reviewer

2019-20        University of Florida University Minority Mentoring Program (UMPP), mentor to two first year students

2019                Book Prize Committee Member, Council on Anthropology of Reproduction

2019                Reviewer for Culture, Medicine, & Psychiatry

2018-present   Member, Department of Anthropology Undergraduate Education Committee

2018               Book Prize Committee Member, Council on Anthropology of Reproduction

2018                 Reviewer for Social Science & Medicine

2017-18       Member, Columbia University Office of University Life Race, Ethnicity, and Inclusion Task Force

2017-18       Member, Columbia University Office of University Life Inclusive Classrooms Working Group

2017-present Editorial Board Member, Springer Maternal Health series

2017 Reviewer for Human Organization (2017)

2016-present Reviewer for Anthropology & Medicine

2016-18 Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR), a Special Interest Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology- International Newsletter Co-editor

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

2012-14           University United Methodist Church- Rukwa Partnership for Health fundraising project, St. Louis, MO and Sumbawanga, Tanzania (October 2012-December 2013)

Planned and led fundraising campaign to purchase boat to serve as emergency transport to healthcare services for five villages on Lake Rukwa, Tanzania

Coordinated fundraising projects to raise a total of more than $11,000 for the purchase of a boat, motor, and life jackets, as well as coordinating transportation of the boat to its location of use

Worked with Rukwa Regional Medical Office and Sumbawanga Urban District Offices to coordinate sustained support for the boat

In March 2014 presented the boat to the local community and Tanzania’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare as part of the White Ribbon Day celebrations to commemorate maternal deaths and advocate for improved maternal health care services

 


           

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