
Overview
overview
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I am a medical anthropologist with cross-training and experience in public health both domestically and internationally. Most of my work is located within what I believe is a productive synergy between anthropology and the more applied concerns of public health. As an anthropologist trained in ethnographic methods, globalization, and critical medical anthropology, I have sought to trouble the terms of discourse and "intervention" in public health, and to bring structural inequalities and material processes into greater focus in public health. Specifically, I have used this analytic lens in my work on HIV/AIDS and sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean.
My book Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality and AIDS in the Dominican Republic, seeks to provide a critical structural analysis for patterns in the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, drawing on experience-near ethnography with male sex workers who work in the tourism industry in two Dominican cities. For this book, I was honored to receive the Ruth Benedict Award for best solo-authored book on sexuality in the field of anthropology in 2008. I have sought to carry much of this work forward as my career has evolved, including obtaining funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pursue innovative mixed-method studies that aim to translate ethnographic interpretation into interventions and policies for HIV/AIDS prevention.
Two recent NIH-funded studies that I have led include: (1) "Injection Practices and HIV risk behavior among transgendered persons in Puerto Rico" (Grant #1R21DA032288-01); and "High-Use Alcohol Venues: Tourism, Sex Work and HIV in the Dominican Republic (Grant #1 R21 AA018078-01). The former study, entitled "TRANSforma", uses both ethnographic methods and a quantitative survey to examine the social context of lay hormone and silicone injection practices that are common among male-to-female transgender persons in Puerto Rico. The research seeks to use the knowledge obtained to design subsequent federally-funded interventions to address the life conditions faced by transgender women, which contributes to the vulnerabilities they face. The latter study used the medical anthropological notion of "syndemics" to address the political, economic, and cultural conditions of commercial sex workers who serve a tourist clientele in the Dominican Republic.
I have been so honored, as well, to serve as Principal Investigator for a Ford Foundation funded study called "Detroit Youth Passages." See the project web page at Detroit Youth Passages. This project takes a truly structural and critical approach to medical anthropology and applies it to analyze the political and economic context of Detroit, Michigan. This project uses a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, and includes three community-based organizations in Detroit who are working with three highly marginalized populations: (1) transgender women of color; (2) young women involved in sex work; and (3) Latino youth at risk for gang involvement. We are using an interdisciplinary approach to conduct applied research and large-scale communications on the structural realities of Detroit youth, in order to transform the policies and conditions that place such youth at risk. In many ways, this project brings my critical ethnographic lens from my work in Latin America and the Caribbean to a domestic context, demonstrating that the global conditions of health inequities are often interconnected in unexpected ways.
I am currently beginning a 5-year NIH-funded study on migration, tourism, and the HIV/drug syndemic in the Dominican Republic (grant # 1 R01 DA031581-01A1) which examines through ethnography and a large-sample survey the social and structural factors that contribute to the clustering of HIV and drug use vulnerabilities within tourism zones.
The project involves a close collaboration with colleagues at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud (http:/www.fcsuasd.netweb/) at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, the largest public university in the Dominican Republic. The study is the first large NIH-funded interdisciplinary research project to examine the social and structural risks for HIV and drug abuse associated with the tourism industry, and aims to collaboratively develop a pilot intervention to support the health and well-being of Dominicans who work in tourism zones.
research interests
- Critical Medical Anthropology, Global Health, Latin America, Caribbean, Dominican Republic, Tourism Studies, Gender/ Sexuality Studies, HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention, Mixed Methods Research on Health Inequities.
Scholarly & Creative Works
selected publications
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Article
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2021Red tape, slow emergency, and chronic disease management in post-Maria Puerto RicoFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2021.1998376 Web of Science: 000716831200001
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2021Embodiment, Gender Transitioning, and Necropolitics among Transwomen in Puerto RicoFull Text via DOI: 10.1086/711621 Web of Science: 000623420800004
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2021Teaching diversity in public participation through participatory research: A case study of the PhotoVoice methodologyFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/15236803.2020.1858534 Web of Science: 000607153200001
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2020Stigmatizing Experiences of Trans Men in Puerto Rico: Implications for HealthFull Text via DOI: 10.1089/trgh.2020.0021 Web of Science: 000698156200005
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2020Aging and thriving with HIV: a photovoice project with long-term HIV survivors in Miami, FloridaFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/17533015.2020.1821386 Web of Science: 000572451000001
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2019An institutional ethnography of prevention and treatment services for substance use disorders in the Dominican RepublicFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1701059 Web of Science: 000502188100001
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2019An ethnographic study of 'touristic escapism' and health vulnerability among Dominican male tourism workersFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1651370 Web of Science: 000480836700001
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2018Tourism Labor, Embodied Suffering, and the Deportation Regime in the Dominican RepublicFull Text via DOI: 10.1111/maq.12447 Web of Science: 000452138800013
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2018The social context of hormone and silicone injection among Puerto Rican transwomenFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2017.1367035 Web of Science: 000431014700007
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2017Experiences of Violence Among Transgender Women in Puerto Rico: An Underestimated ProblemFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2016.1174026 Web of Science: 000390696200004
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2016Intersections and evolution of "Butch-trans' categories in Puerto Rico: Needs and barriers of an invisible populationFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2016.1180703 Web of Science: 000380368900011
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2016The role of emotions in the reduction of HIV/AIDS stigma among physicians in trainingFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/09540121.2015.1090537 Web of Science: 000370682600017
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2016Spatial Stigma and Health in Postindustrial DetroitFull Text via DOI: 10.1177/0272684X15627800 Web of Science: 000372296300002
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2016Trans-Migrations: Border-Crossing and the Politics of Body Modification Among Puerto Rican Transgender WomenFull Text via DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2016.1223256 Web of Science: 000390875800002
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2015Effects of Minority Stress Processes on the Mental Health of Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men and Women: A Qualitative StudyFull Text via DOI: 10.1007/s10508-014-0424-x Web of Science: 000360667900038
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2015Parental Loss and Residential Instability: The Impact on Young Women from Low-Income Households in DetroitFull Text via DOI: 10.1007/s10826-013-9852-9 Web of Science: 000348397700018
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2014An Empirical Test of Racial/Ethnic Differences in Perceived Racism and Affiliation with the Gay Community: Implications for HIV RiskFull Text via DOI: 10.1111/josi.12063 Web of Science: 000337739900009
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2013HIV Sexual Risk Behavior and Family Dynamics in a Dominican Tourism TownFull Text via DOI: 10.1007/s10508-012-0064-y Web of Science: 000325619200017
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2013Taxonomy of Caribbean tourism alcohol venues: Implications for HIV transmissionFull Text via DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2013.02.010 Web of Science: 000324281400033
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2010HIV/AIDS and tourism in the Caribbean: An ecological systems perspectiveFull Text via DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.161968
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2008Discourses of homosexual invasion in the dominican global imaginaryFull Text via DOI: 10.1525/srsp.2008.5.4.31
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Book
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Book Chapter
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2021Male transactional sex in the Dominican Republic: The politics of labor exclusion. 384-394.Full Text via DOI: 10.4324/9781003152835-30
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2018
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2009Touristic borderlands: Ethnographic reflections on Dominican social geographies. 91-107.Full Text via DOI: 10.4324/9780203869147
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2007Globalization, Structural Violence, and LGBT Health: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. 209-241.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-31334-4_9
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Other Scholarly Work
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2019Introduction to the special issue: Applying a Caribbean perspective to an analysis of HIV/AIDS. 1547-1556.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1658122 Web of Science: 000487064100001
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2014Introduction to Special Issue: Youth Voices for Sexual Rights. 271-273.Full Text via DOI: 10.1007/s13178-014-0173-6 Web of Science: 000344654700001
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2014Spatial stigma and health inequality. 392-404.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2013.873532 Web of Science: 000341844200002
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2014Interpersonal Relationships and Social Support in Transitioning Narratives of Black Transgender Women in Detroit. 100-113.Full Text via DOI: 10.1080/15532739.2014.937042 Web of Science: 000212605700004
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Works By Students
chaired theses and dissertations
Research
principal investigator on
- A Multi-Level Health Systems Study of Collapse and Resilience in Puerto Ricos's Response to Hurricane Maria awarded by National Institute on Aging 2019 - 2020
- Migration, Tourism and the HIV-drug use Syndemic in the Dominican Republic awarded by National Institute on Drug Abuse 2016 - 2019
- Physicians and Health Related Services for Male-to-Female Transgender Persons awarded by National Institute of Mental Health 2014 - 2017
- Migration, Tourism and the HIV-drug use Syndemic in the Dominican Republic awarded by National Institute on Drug Abuse 2013 - 2016
- Injection Practices and HIV Risk Behavior among Transgendered Persons in Puerto Rico awarded by National Institute on Drug Abuse 2012 - 2015
- Economic Crisis, Residential Instability & Changing Sexual Geographies of Detroit Youth awarded by Ford Foundation 2012 - 2014
- Economic Crisis, Residential Instability & Changing Sexual Geographies of Detroit Youth awarded by Ford Foundation 2012 - 2013
co-principal investigator on
- Disasters, solar energy, and chronic disease management in aging Puerto Ricans awarded by National Institute on Aging 2022 - 2026
- COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Stakeholder Interdependencies in Post-Disaster Relocation Under High Uncertainty awarded by National Science Foundation 2021 - 2024
- Physician Migration and its Implications for Puerto Rico's health care system awarded by Minority Health and Health Disparities 2020 - 2024
investigator on
Contact
full name
- Mark Padilla
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publication subject areas
Citation index-derived subject areas the researcher has published in