Nancy Burke, PhD

Professor of Public Health and Anthropology, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, UC Merced
What I do: 
Professor Nancy Burke, a medical anthropologist, leads the HER group. She is a Professor of Anthropology and Public Health, and Chair of Public Health at UC Merced. She is also a faculty member of the Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research is anchored by the idea that no one should suffer undue and untreated illness because they are poor or marginalized or subjected to institutionalized and persistent racism.

Since 2009 Dr. Burke has conducted collaborative research on chronic disease self-management with colleagues at the Universidad de Ciencias Médicas, Facultad Girón in Havana, Cuba. This has resulted in several chronic disease workshops and the development of curriculum and an area of expertise focused on obesity and overweight, the first of its kind on the island.