All graduates of Anthropology within the past 5 years are eligible for lifetime membership of the Ohio Theta Chapter of Lambda Alpha, the international honors society for students of Anthropology. Interested? Click here.

 

PhD’s in Anthropology

by Last Name Dissertation Title Current Position

Marisa Abbe

(PhD – January 2011)

“An Analysis of Cultural Competence, Cultural Difference, and Communication Strategies in Medical Care”

Program Manager

Children’s Medical Center, Dallas

Injury Prevention Department

Kathleen Joy Adams

(PhD – August 1972)

“The Barama River Caribs of Guyana Restudied: Forty Years of Cultural Adaption and Population Change”

Sarah Adler

(PhD – January 2008)

“The Influence of Burmese Buddhist Understandings of Suffering on the Subjective Experience and Social Perceptions of Schizophrenia”

Elizabeth Albert (Lewton)

(PhD – August 1997)

“Living Harmony: The Transformation of Self in Three Navajo Religious Healing Traditions”

Senior Research Associate

Case Western Reserve University

Center for Community Health Integration

Aylin Atillasoy

(PhD – May 1996)

“Daily Survival Versus the Threat of AIDS: Street Youth and the Street Economy in New York City”

Heather Baily

(PhD – May 2020)

“The Digital Labor Ward: Teleconsultation in Rural Ghana”

Population/Health/Nutrition Foreign Service Officer

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Timi Barone

(PhD -May 1997)

“Perceived Stress and Health in British and Asian Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients”

Associate Professor

University of Nebraska, Omaha

Department of Sociology & Anthropology

Donna Benson

(PhD – 1987)

“Pleasant Bottoms: The Cooperative Years, 1784-1826 (Ohio Decorative Arts, Folklore)”

Yewoubdar Beyene

(PhD – 1985)

“An Ethnography of Menopause: Menopausal Experiences of Mayan Women in a Yucatan Village”

Professor

University of California, San Francisco

Institute for Health & Aging

John Blangero

(PhD – 1987)

“Population Genetic Approaches to Phenotypic Microevolution in the Jirels of Nepal”

Professor

Director, Genomics Computing Center

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute

Frederick Bloom

(PhD – January 1996)

“Living in the HIV Spectrum: Life Stories and Illness Narratives of Gay Men”

Deputy Associate Director of Science

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Division of STD Prevention

Amy Blue

(PhD – May 1991)

“Culture, Nevra, and Institution: The Making of Greek Professional Ehtnopsychiatry”

Clinical Professor

University of Florida

College of Public Health and Health Professions

Associate Vice President, Interprofessional Education

UF Health Office 

Christine Borden-King-Jones

(PhD – May 2021)

“Storied Experience: Walking with Everyday Ghosts”

Adjunct

Minot State University

Jeffrey Borkan

(MD – 1984; PhD – 1987)

“Occupational Health and Safety in Context: An Examination of Three Polyurethane Foam Plants in Israel”

Assistant Dean, Primary Care-Population Health

Chair and Professor

Brown Medical School

Department of Family Medicine

Alex Bridges

(PhD – May 2017)

 “Two Monasteries in Ladakh: Religiosity and the Social Environment in Tibetan Buddhism.”

Sarah Bridges (Rundall)

(PhD – January 2016)

 “Culture, Environment, and Experiences of Disability in Ladakh, India”

Assistant Dean of Research

Director of Research and Sponsored Programs

Gustavus Adolphus College

Sherylyn Briller

(PhD – May 2000)

“Whom Can I Count on Today?: Contextualizing the Balance of Family and Government Old Age Support for Rural Pensioners in Mongolia”

Professor

Purdue University

Department of Anthropology

Elizabeth Carpenter-Song

(PhD – August 2007)

“Lived Experiences of Behavioral and Emotional Disorders in U.S. Children and Families”

Research Associate Professor

Dartmouth University

Department of Anthropology

Ariel Cascio

(PhD – May 2015)

“Biopolitics and Subjectivity: The Case of Autism Spectrum Conditions In Italy”

Assistant Professor

Central Michigan University

College of Medicine

Brad Cassuci

(PhD – August 2015)

 “A Cold Wind: Local Maasai Perceptions of the Common Health Landscape in Narok South”

Sarah Chard

(PhD – August 2001)

“Ugandan Women’s Health Beliefs, Social Networks and Tuberculosis Treatment Seeking”

Chair

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health

Shiuan Sanna Chen

(PhD – January 2011)

“Zuo Yue Zi Sitting the Month in Taiwan: Implications for Intergenerational Relations”  

Yunzhu Chen

(PhD – May 2019)

“The Revival of “Visiting Marriage” – Family Change and Intergenerational Relations Among Matrilineal Tibetans in Southwestern China.”

Co-Principal Investigator

Case Western Reserve University

Department of Anthropology

Jacklyn Chisholm

(PhD – May 2002)

“Self-Identity and the Acquisition of Cultural Knowledge in University Settings” 

President and CEO

Step Forward

Elizabeth Coker

(PhD – January 2001)

“The Making of the Egyptian Psychiatric Patient: Reinterpreting Cultural Symbols through Biomedical Discourse”

Independent Consultant

Olympia, Washington

Margaret Cooney

(PhD – May 2002)

“The Experience and Knowledge of Menopause among Low-Income Cleveland Women”

Data Quality Manager | Evaluator

Frontline Service, formerly MHS

Robert Dirks

(PhD – 1972)

“Networks, Groups, and Local-Level Politics in an Afro-Caribbean Community”

Professor Emeritus

Illinois State University

Christopher Dole

(PhD – May 2002)

“Outlaws, Swindlers, and Authentic Healers: Legitimacy, Identity, and Religious Healing in Urban Turkey”

Professor

Amherst College

Department of Anthropology and Sociology

Susan Dorsky

(PhD – May 1981)

“Women’s Lives in a North Yemeni Highland Town”

Delia Easton

(PhD – January 1998)

“The Cultural Context of Puerto Rican Adolescents’ Perception of HIV Risk”

Research Scientist

New York State Department of Health

Michelle Eder

(PhD – January 2006)

“Parental Decision-Making About Children’s Participation in Clinical Research”

Research Associate

Kaiser Permanent Northwest

Center for Health Research Northwest

Nadia El-Shaarawi

(PhD – January 2012)

“Living an Uncertain Future: An Ethnography of Displacement, Health, Psychosocial Well-Being and the Search for Durable Solutions Among Iraqi Refugees in Egypt”

 

Assistant Professor

Colby College

Global Studies

Lillian Emmons

(PhD – May 1989)

“Determinants of Dieting Behavior and Eating Disorders in High School Students”

Regina Feldman

(PhD – January 1999)

“Burning Ashes-An Anthropological Study of Intellectual and Moral Judgment in the Historian’s Debate”

Program Director

Metro Montessori Middle School

Maureen Floriano

(PhD – May 2021)

“Models of Addiction and Health Seeking Behaviors: Understanding Participant Utilization of an Overdose Education and Naloxone”

Lecturer

Baldwin Wallace University

Maryann Foley

(PhD – 1984)

“Personal and Social Effects of Being a Carrier of Hepatitis B”

Steven Folmar

(PhD – May 1985)

“Fertility and the Economic Value of Children in Pokhara Valley, Nepal”

Associate Professor and Chair

Wake Forest University

Department of Cultural/Applied Anthropology

Joseph Galanek

(PhD – January 2012)

“The Social and Cultural Context of Mental Illness in Prison”

Senior User Experience Researcher

AnswerLab

John Garrity

(PhD – May 1998)

“The Ethos of Power: Navajo Religious Healing of Alcohol and Substance Abuse”

Executive Director

Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County

Elisa Gordon

(PhD – May 1999)

“If it’s not Broke, Don’t Fix It: Patients’ and Clinicians’ Decision Making for Treatment of End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States”

Professor

Northwestern University

Feinberg School of Medicine

N’omi Greber

(PhD – May 1976)

“Within Ohio Hopewell: Analysis of Burial Patterns from Several Classic Sites”

(Deceased)

Meghan Halley

(PhD – January 2012)

“Negotiating Sexuality: Ritual, Culture and Change in Rural Southern Tanzania”

Research Scholar

Stanford University

Center for Biomedical Ethics

Daniel Basil Hamilton

(PhD – May 2023)

“Patients, Practice, and the Social Construction of Transgender among Adults”

Director of Operations 

The LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland

Charlotte Haney (Mueller)

(PhD – May 2013)

“Imperiled Femininity: Reconfiguring Gender in a Context of Heightened Violence Against Women”

Teacher

Carnegie Vanguard High School

C. Jeff Jacobson, Jr.

(PhD – May 2001)

“Spirits, Demons, and Nightmares: Moral Images of Self and Other in Puerto Rican Life History and Religious Discourse”

Professor and Director of Graduate Studies

University of Cincinnati

Department of Anthropology

Ben Jiao

(PhD – May 2001)

“Socio-Economic and Cultural Factors Underlying the Contemporary Revival of Fraternal Polyandry in Tibet”

Senior Researcher

Tibet Academy of Social Sciences

Brooke V. Jespersen

(PhD – May 2023)

“In Search of Tranquility: Migration and Older Puerto Rican Adults’ Quests for a Good Old Age”  

David Kaawa-Mafigiri

(PhD – May 2007)

“Social Networks and Social Support for Tuberculosis Control in Kampala, Uganda”

Lecturer

Makerere University

Department of Social Work and Social Administration

Kelley Kampman

(PhD – May 2021)

“Mothering on MATs: The Influence of Intensive Mothering and Biomedicalized Addiction Treatment on Opioid Addicted Women’s Mothering Practices”  

Julia Knopes (Balacko)

(PhD – January 2019)

“The Social Construction of Sufficient Knowledge at an American Medical School”

Research Associate

Case Western Reserve University

School of Medicine

Sarah Koopman-Gonzalez

(PhD – January 2017)

 “The Normalization of Everyday Violence: Rights, Education, and Violence Management in Salvadoran Children’s Lives” 

Research Scientist

Case Western Reserve University

Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods

Yachun Gregory (Ku)

(PhD – May 1991)

“Chinese Rural Elderly in the Post Mao Era–Two Villages in Zhejiang Province” 

Instructor

Lorain County Community College

Sociology

Sandra Laston

(PhD – January 1992)

“Risk Factors for Diarrheal Disease in Village Children in Nepal”

Associate Professor of Research

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute

Lydia Lauritzen

(PhD – January 2010)

“The Making of Bioethical History”

Assistant Nurse Manager

University of Washington 

After Care Clinic

Anthony Layng

(PhD – 1976)

“The Carib Population of Dominica”

(Deceased)

Ellen Lazarus

(PhD – January 1984)

“Pregnancy and Clinical Care: An Ethnographic Investigation of Perinatal Management for Puerto Rican and Low Income Women in the United States”

Yi Li

(PhD – May 2023)

“An Ethnographic Study of ‘The Eastern March of Tibetan Buddhism’ In Shenyang, Northeastern China”

Heather Lindstrom

(PhD – January 2004)

“Aging and Modernization: A Field Study of the Determinants of Elders’ Social Status in American and Independent Samoa”

Research Director and Research Assistant Professor

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

Epidemiology and Environmental Health

Sana Loue

(PhD – August 2004)

“Perceptions of Partner Violence among a Sample of Self-Identified Puerto Rican and Non-Hispanic White Men and Women in Cuyahoga County”

Vice Dean, Faculty Development and Professor

Case Western Reserve University

School of Medicine

Francis Manzella

(PhD – May 2019)

“What Medical Tourism Tells Us About Global Health Diplomacy and Governance:  An Organizational Analysis of Civil Society in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”

Jonnie Marks 

(PhD – May 1998)

“Gut Feelings, the Holy Spirit, and a Processed World: Embodied Knowledge of Breast Cancer Risks in African-American Women“

Kate E. Masley, Ph.D., CD (DONA) 

(PhD – August 2007)

“Living the ‘Latina Paradox’: An Ethnography of Pregnant and Postpartum Mexican Immigrants in Northeast Ohio”

Special Lecturer

Oakland University

School of Health Sciences

Dale McCall 

(PhD – 1976)

“A Study of the Relationship between the PTC Tasting Polymorphism and the Peroxidase of Human Saliva with Reference to Extrathyroidal Metabolism of Iodine”

Stephanie McClure 

(PhD – May 2013)

“It’s Just Gym: African-American Adolescent Girls Enacting Physicality-Informed Identity in School Settings”

Assistant Professor

University of Alabama

Department of Anthropology

Kathryn McGowan 

(PhD – January 2005)

“A Body History of Polio-related Impairments in the United States”

Carmit McMullen 

(PhD – May 2003)

“Aging with Grace: Health Evaluation and Identity among African-American Elders”

Senior Investigator

Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research

Hillary Melchiors 

(Ph.D., August 2014)

“Subjective Well-Being, Bicultural Citizenship and Identity: An Ethnography of Turkish-German Adolescent Girls in Berlin, Germany”

Co-Founder

The Birth Geeks

Doula and Childbirth Educator

Doula Group of Evansville

Sarah Miller-Fellows

(Ph.D., May 2019)

“Making Medicine Amish”

Director of Impact

Girls Empowerment Network

Lisa Mitchell 

(PhD – May 1993)

“Making Babies: Routine Ultrasound Imaging and the Cultural Construction of the Fetus in Montreal, Canada”

Associate Professor Emeritus

University of Victoria

Department of Anthropology

Michelle Nebergall 

(PhD – August 2014)

“Understanding Perceptions of Risk Among Youth in a South African Township”

Clinical Trial Manager

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Elizabeth Olson 

(PhD – August 2009)

“Nahua People of the Sierra of Manantlan Biosphere Reserve: Livelihoods, Health Experiences, and Medicinal Plant Knowledge in Mexico”

Associate Professor

Southern Utah University

Anthropology

Kinuko Omori 

(PhD – January 1994)

“Sociocultural Influences on Child Health and Nutritional Status in Karen Highlanders of Thailand”

(Deceased)

Kathryn Oths

(PhD – May 1991)

“Medical Treatment Choice and Health Outcomes in the Northern Peruvian Andes”

Professor Emeritus

University of Alabama

Department of Anthropology

Gregory Pappas

(MD – 1986; PhD – May 1986)

“The Magic City: An Ethnography of Unemployment in a Working Class Community”

Administrator

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Isabel Parraga

(PhD – May 1992)

“Dietary Beliefs, Nutritional Patterns and Nutritional Status of Urban Aymara Women and Children“

Emeriti Associate Professor

Case Western Reserve University

Department of MS in Public Health Nutrition

Micah Parzen

(PhD – January 2001)

“Culturally Appropriate” Mental Health Care: Wilderness Therapy for Navajo Youth”

Chief Executive Officer

Museum of Us

Raakhee Patel

(PhD – May 2021)

“An Ethnographic Study of Doctor-Patient Communication within Biomedicine and Its Indian Variant in Mumbai”

Jessica Price

(PhD – May 2002)

“Culture: An Exploration of Unregulated Circulation and Consumption of Biomedicines in a Central African Town”

Bruce Rippeteau

(PhD – August 1973)

“The Principles and Theory of Radiocarbon Chronology and a Radiocarbon Chronology for LIthic Variation in the Northeastern United States during 3,000 to 500 Calendrical Years B.C.”

Adjunct Professor

University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Anthropology

James Ross

(PhD – June 1981)

“Hindu and Tibetan Reproduction and Fertility in Northwestern Nepal: A Study of Population, Ecology, and Economics”

(Deceased)

Sarah Rubin

(Ph.D., August 2014)

“Struggling and Coping with Life: Maternal Emotional Distress in a South African Township”

Associate Professor

Ohio University

Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine

Charles Rwabukwali

(PhD – May 1997)

Gender, Poverty, and AIDS in Kabarole, Western Uganda: The Sociocultural Context of Risk and Preventative Behaviors”

Professor

Makerere University

Department of Sociology

Christina Saunders Sturm

(PhD – May 2002)

“Breast Cancer Illness Narratives: Examining the Experience of Living with Breast Cancer “ Research Professional

John Scarry

(PhD – 1984)

“Fort Walton Development: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Lower Southeast“

Research Associate Professor

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Archaeology / Anthropology

Allison Schlosser

(PhD – 2018)

“Subjectivity and Moral Personhood: An Ethnography of Addiction Treatment in the United States.”

Assistant Professor

University of Nebraska Omaha

Megan Schmidt-Sane

(PhD – May 2020)

“Men Managing Uncertainty: The Political Economy of HIV in Urban Uganda

Postdoctoral Researcher

Institute of Development Studies, Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform

Robert Schrauf

(PhD – May 1995)

“Andalusian Carnaveleros and Hermanos: Cultural Schemata and Reconstructive Retrieval in Autobiographical Memory “

Professor

Pennsylvania State University

Department of Applied Linguistics

Anita Shankar

(PhD – 1995)

In Search of the Light in Your Eyes: Anthropological and Epidemiological Perspectives of Vitamin A Deficiency in Nelali Children “

Associate Scientist

Johns Hopkins University

School of Public Health

Jennifer Shaw

(PhD – August 2013)

“Navigating at a Double Crossroads: The Role of Subsistence in the Subjective Wellbeing of Dena’ina Athabascan Youth in Alaska“

Senior Researcher

Southcentral Foundation

Joanna Skilogianis

(Ph.D., January 2001)

“Great Expectations vs. State Expectations: Fertility Limitation among Women in Urban Greece ”

(Deceased)

James Spilsbury

(Ph.D., January 2002)

“Hazards and Help-Seeking in Inner-City Cleveland: The Child’s Perception of Neighborhood Danger, Safety, and Support “

Associate Professor

Case Western Reserve University

School of Medicine

David Stothers

(Ph.D., 1974)

The Princess Point Complex”

(Deceased)

Dorice Tentchoff

(Ph.D., January 1977)

Speech in Louisiana Cajun Community ”

(Deceased)

Elena Tempeanu (Ph.D., August 1993) “The Rise of Complex Society in the Eastern Carpatho-Danubian Region (Last Millennium B.C.)(Romania, Iron Production, Dacia) “

Preecha Upayokin

(Ph.D., January 1991)

“Treatment Choice, Disease Outcome and Stigma: An Investigation of Leprosy Patients and Illness Behavior in Thailand “

Associate Professor

Mae Fah Luang University

Colleen Walsh

(Ph.D., May 2011)

“Gardening Together: Social Capital, Health Inequality, and the Cultivation of Urban Community “

Associate Professor

Cleveland State University

College of Sciences and Health Professions

Jing Wang

(PhD – May 2018)

“Growing Old with Daughters: Aging, Care, and Change in the Matrilocal Family System in Rural Tibet.”

Postdoctoral Fellow

Yunnan University

Department of Ethnology

Nancy White

(Ph.D., 1982)

“The Curlee Site (8Ja7) and Fort Walton Development in the Upper Apalachicola-Lower Chattahoochee Valley, Florida, Georgia, Alabama“

Professor

University of South Florida

Department of Anthropology

Sarah Williams-Blangero

(Ph.D., May 1987)

“Patterns of Marital Exchange and Phenotypic Differentiation in the Jirels of Nepal”

HEB Distinguished Chair in Diabetes and Genomics

Director, South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute

Professor, School of Medicine

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Margaret Winchester

(Ph.D., January 2011)

“Living with Globalization: The Intersection of Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Treatment in Uganda” Independent Consultant

Nyamdorj Yandag

(Ph.D., may 2000)

“Basal Metabolic Rate of Mongolian Pastoral Nomads”

Social Secretary

Embassy of India, Ulaanbaatar

Pamela Zahorik

(Ph.D., January 1991)

“Juvenile Diabetes: A Study of Children’s Perceptions of their Illness (Diabetes)“

Yan Zhang

(PhD – May 2020)

“A Landscape of Dementia Care: Politics, Practices, and Morality in Shanghai, China”

Research Fellow

Harvard Medical School

Department of Global Health and Social Medicine

Maggie Zraly

(Ph.D., January 2008)

“Bearing: Resilience Among Genocide-Rape Survivors in Rwanda”

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support & Equity Advisor

The MHPSS Collaborative

Last Updated: December 2021