I am a medical anthropologist working interdisciplinarily in maternal health and neglected tropical diseases, in particular questions of equity, social justice and quality of care. I specialise in the ethnography of health care facilities, fieldwork that links the micro level with macro level questions, and researching the interpretation and adaptation of global health policy across systems, realities and contexts.
I studied socio-cultural anthropology (BA, Wesleyan University) and Medical anthropology (MSc, University College London) before completing a PhD at LSHTM undertaking ethnographic research on the trajectories of medical volunteers and patients involved with a faith-based humanitarian organisation, looking at the interplay between identity, health and belief.
I studied socio-cultural anthropology (BA, Wesleyan University) and Medical anthropology (MSc, University College London) before completing a PhD at LSHTM undertaking ethnographic research on the trajectories of medical volunteers and patients involved with a faith-based humanitarian organisation, looking at the interplay between identity, health and belief.
Affiliations
Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health
Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health
Centres
Centre for Maternal Adolescent Reproductive & Child Health
Teaching
I co-organise the Foundations in Reproductive Health module, one of the core modules for the MSC in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research. I also tutor on this MSc, and teach on various modules including the distance learning in medical anthropology course.
Research
As part of the Maternal and Newborn Health Group I research on a variety of projects. I am principal investigator on a mixed-methods project researching the dynamics of c-section use in the context of the global rise of c-section rates, currently focusing on a case study in Indonesia (funder: USAID). In the area of climate change and maternal health I am undertaking interdisciplinary collaborative research on the impact of extreme heat events on maternal health workers and their adaptations to climate change (Heat Indicators for Global Health: focus on maternal, child and workforce health (HIGH Horizons), (funder: EU Horizon Research and Innovation)).
I also lead a project advancing qualitative measurement of maternal morbidities and developing guidance on how to better research this subject (funder: WHO). Underlying much of my work is the study of historical and present maternal and neonatal health policies in West and North Africa looking at questions of health service use and delivery, access, and the underlying values that drive resource allocation.
I also lead a project advancing qualitative measurement of maternal morbidities and developing guidance on how to better research this subject (funder: WHO). Underlying much of my work is the study of historical and present maternal and neonatal health policies in West and North Africa looking at questions of health service use and delivery, access, and the underlying values that drive resource allocation.
Research Area
Maternal health
Ethnography
Medical anthropology
Health policy
Health inequalities
Social and structural determinants of health
Country
Benin
Uganda
Kenya
India
Burkina Faso
Morocco
Cote d'Ivoire
Indonesia
Selected Publications
Care's profit: precarity and professionalisation of health workers in private maternal clinics in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India
2021
Childbirth in South Asia: Old Challenges and New Paradoxes
The Ambiguity Imperative: "Success" in a Maternal Health Program in Uganda.
2021
Medical anthropology
Being a midwife in West Africa: Between sensory experiences, moral standards, socio-technical violence and affective constraints.
2021
Social science & medicine (1982)
Affective Routes of Healing: Navigating Paths of Recovery in Urban and Rural West Africa
2020
Affective Trajectories: Religion and Emotion in African Cityscapes
