Nancy Perini Chin is an anthropologist with training in population health. Her work examines the relationships between society, culture, and health with special attention to the effects of gender dynamics. She has developed expertise in ethnographic, qualitative research with the goal of better understanding the links between higher order social and political processes and community health. Professor Chin has used this approach to contribute to studies on tobacco control in the Dominican Republic, gender and health in Antarctica, child health in Bolivia, community breastfeeding support in Rochester, NY's low-income neighborhoods, and women's health in Ladakh and Tibet.
Currently, she directs a community-based participatory project in Ladakh, India on tobacco control among adolescents, in collaboration with the Leh Department of Health. This project also provides the opportunity to offer a mentored field experience to University of Rochester undergraduate public health majors, as well as Ladakhi high school graduates.
More recently, Professor Chin has been working with communities and students to develop a new line of community health research focused on community trauma recovery after a natural disaster. Two mountain communities, one in the Italian Dolomites, the other in Western Himalayas of Ladakh, provide the venues for understanding the processes and elements of successful recovery after catastrophic landslides. During her sabbatical (January-June 2013), Professor Chin will conduct field work at both sites using theoretical insights from anthropology, psychology, and public health.
Follow her current field work at:
http://traumarecovery.tumblr.com/
