Emily Mendenhall
Emily Mendenhall is a medical anthropologist, professor, and director of the Science, Technology, and International Affairs Program in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Services at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Mendenhall has published widely at the boundaries of anthropology, psychology, medicine, and public health. This work focuses on social and biological links between social trauma and diabetes, the theory and experience of syndemics, how and why people use idioms of distress, mental health and well-being, and the politics of pandemics. She has authored and edited several books, including Syndemic Suffering (2012), Global Mental Health (2015), Rethinking Diabetes (2019), Unmasked (2022), Savoring Care (2025), and Invisible Illness (2026). She was awarded the George Foster Award for Practicing Anthropology in 2017 from the Society for Medical Anthropology and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2023 from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Why Social Policies Make Coronavirus Worse
Too late for COVID-19, but strengthening safety nets and health security in U.S. would help us respond to future threats