Biography
I studied social anthropology at Universidad de Chile (1995-2000), where I specialized in medical anthropology. Before continuing my studies abroad, I worked on poverty reduction programs in Chile, and I also taught at Universidad de Chile as a Lecturer. In 2006 I received an Erasmus Mundus grant from the European Union to study in the interdisciplinary Master’s program “Phoenix Dynamics of Health and Welfare, spending my first year in Portugal at Evora University and my second year in Linköping, Sweden. In my research, I consider different dimensions of inequality, such as race, gender, and class, to understand the unequal distribution of illness and how people seek health care. My doctoral training in medical anthropology at UC San Diego has given me a vast knowledge about global health processes and the structural conditions that perpetuate health disparities in the global North and South. My dissertation research focused on understanding modes of engagement and tuberculosis illness experiences within Aymara communities in Bolivia and Chile. As part of my postdoctoral training at the Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Studies (CIIR), I conducted ethnographic research on the impact of infectious disease diagnosis on mental health in communities exposed to precarity and vulnerability in Lampa (Chile).
My current research is oriented towards understanding the mental health impact of environmental precarity among indigenous communities in Northern Patagonia, Chile.