Biography
Working with an interdisciplinary focus, I examine how health care institutions and health insurance structures create health disparities for underserved communities and precarious labor conditions for health workers.
Current project: "Healthcare for Some, Medical Debt for Many: Navigating Uncovered Medical Expenses in the U.S. Health System."
In this project, conducted with undergraduate and graduate students in anthropology, we investigate the work - the skills, strategies, expertise, and perseverance - individuals, non-profit organizations, and faith-based groups, develop to mitigate uncovered medical expenses and medical debt. Based on interviews, surveys, and policy analyses, we uncover the health and wealth disparities created and maintained by the fragmented U.S. health system.
Collaborative research
With colleagues at the Center for Health Workforce Studies, I ask how health workers address health inequities. Projects: https://depts.washington.edu/fammed/chws/
- The role of insurance navigators in mitigating financial risk
- Increasing the use of and access to birth doulas by underserved communities.
- Health Workforce in Health Equity Research: Who, what, when, where, and how.
- The emergency medical services and community paramedics workforces response to Covid-19. Lead investigator Davis Patterson.
Previous research
Previously I studied transgender health care in the United States, which I published in Ethnography; Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry; and Medical Anthropology.
Teaching
Addressing structural inequalities from various angles is a core strength in my teaching. Students learn that social inequalities lie at the center of people’s substantial health burdens. I teach in the areas of Queer health; Health insurance; Health care in jails and prisons; Anthropology of Care, and other topics.