Beyond language: public health and 'cultural competency'

Journal article

My path to public health has been non-traditional, and in many ways I have medical anthropology to thank for that. After completing a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from The College of Wooster (U.S.A.), where I undertook an independent thesis on the perceptions of HIV/AIDS in Japan and the USA, I landed a job in the divisive and emotional realm of American health policy. Here I quickly made the observation that many public policy decisions regarding ‘health' are more often focused on saving money than on promoting or protecting health. I then went on to complete the MPhil in Medical Anthropology between 2007 and 2009. While at Oxford, my research focus was on tuberculosis (TB) policy among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples and the influence that place and space, ethnomedicine, and a political-ecologic setting had on these policies (Graff 2009). Through this work my interests moved away from national health policy and towards an application of medical anthropological theories to international public health. Formerly the Policy Development Associate at the Trust for America's Health in Washington, DC, I am currently the Senior Policy Researcher at the UK Health Forum and studying for a Doctorate in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Today my interests within public health include the influence of place and space on health and disease prevention, and the social determinants of health, health inequalities and cultural competency.

Authors: Graff, HM

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 313-325
• Publication date: 2015-01-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-pvngzb2jq
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: JASO