Andrea Sankar is Professor of Anthropology and past editor of Medical Anthropology Quarterly: The International Journal of Culture and Health. Her research examines how values, meanings, relationships and practices of care, for the self, for others, for the community, and for the environment, influence the health and well-being of individuals and communities. 

 

Dr. Sankar has published 60 peer-reviewed articles and curated two museum exhibits featuring her research findings. She seeks to understand the basic elements of care, the sense of the person, sociality, embodiment, instrumentality, and role of economic structures in its enactment. Her work on care has recently expanded to include the environment and people’s understanding of the various locations of responsibility and power in caring for it.

 

She works collaboratively to develop health promotion interventions to improve urban health and promote community action to improve the environment.   Her research has been funded by local, state, national, and international agencies including the NIH, NIMH, CDC, USAID/FHI, General Motors, Nissan Corp. Ford Motor Company, the United Auto Workers, and the Erb Foundation. She is the recipient of professional and civic awards and recognition.  The Detroit News named her Michiganian of the Year for her work on AIDS. The Society for Medical Anthropology gave her the Graduate Mentor Award, as did her university; and the university recognized her service by naming her Distinguished Service Professor. 

 

Her new book, Dying at Home, Johns Hopkins Press, will be out February 2024.