About

I am a medical and cultural anthropologist specializing in global maternal and infant health, HIV, structural vulnerability, and health systems and policy research, and work primarily in East Africa and Florida. I am broadly trained in anthropology, public health, and ethnographic and critical biocultural methods, and employ mixed methods research to engage with questions about social marginalization and health inequities.

I am originally from Romeo, Michigan, and graduated with a BA in anthropology from Michigan State University in 2002. After graduation, I moved south to pursue a Master’s degree in maritime archaeology at Florida State University, and helped to document a possible Roman-era pirate headquarters for my thesis research. I moved to New Orleans in late 2005, and worked with a cultural resources management firm tasked with documenting historic buildings damaged during Hurricane Katrina. While in New Orleans I pursued my emerging interest in public health by enrolling in Tulane’s MPH program in international health and development. As a student I first experienced the interesting and complex world of global health institutions in East Africa, particularly those working with HIV. I continued working with these organizations through my dissertation fieldwork in Tanzania, focusing on the volatility of funding and program services during the global economic recession, and how people living with HIV – and the health care workers dedicated to their care – manage to maintain good health. I received my PhD from the University of Florida in 2014.

Since then, I have worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Miami University of Ohio (2014-2015), and as an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of West Florida (2015-present). With colleagues at UWF, I established the Biocultural Research Laboratory, and enjoy working with MA students and upper-level undergraduates who are interested in learning about issues of structural vulnerability and social marginalization using biocultural and ethnographic approaches.