Research
& awards
My research integrates Medical Anthropology and Science and Technology Studies (STS) through ethnographic investigations of neurodegenerative and neglected tropical diseases.
Central to my work is the critical exploration of ethics, power, care, and the state, particularly within the contexts of biomedical research, pharmaceuticals, global health, and public health. In particular, my earlier and current research focuses on the intersection of armed violence and health in Colombia.
past research
My PhD research (2014-2020) explored the connections between Colombia’s armed conflict and cutaneous leishmaniasis, a neglected, vector-borne skin disease. Conducted through multi-sited ethnography after the 2016 peace accord, this research revealed how war shaped responses to leishmaniasis across military, guerrilla, and civilian settings. This work underpins my forthcoming book, Maraña: War and Disease in the Jungles of Colombia, to be published by the University of Chicago Press in March 2025, and has led to publications in Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Critical Public Health, Tapuya, and others. As a postdoc, I led the British Academy-funded Diseased Landscapes project (2021-2024), investigating how illicit crops and conflict reshape ecosystems and health, particularly among coca cultivators. This work yielded a policy paper, a public health event, and two forthcoming articles.
Current research
As part of the Connected Minds program at York University, my current project ethnographically investigates how emerging pharmaceutical technologies for Alzheimer’s prevention intersect with the preservation of personal, familial, and collective memory in post-conflict Colombia, particularly in Yarumal. This town, with over 14,000 victims of violence and extensive displacement, also faces a high prevalence of early-onset Alzheimer’s due to the hereditary ‘Paisa mutation.’ Since the 1980s, the Neurosciences Group of Antioquia (GNA) has studied 6,000 Yarumal residents, including 1,200 carriers of the mutation. Key objectives include examining the drivers behind Alzheimer’s drug innovation amid violence; understanding clinical trials’ socio-political context; and analyzing the role of hope in promoting equity and justice in medical and peacebuilding terms.
Peer-reviewed articles
Book chapters
"De volta à guerra, mas não à saúde: leishmaniose cutânea no Exército colombiano". In Uma história das leishmanioses no Novo Mundo: atores, desafios e inovações no tempo presente
Edited by Jaime Larry Benchimol. Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz.
Forthcoming
Policy paper
Addressing two rural health problems at once: A contribution to the syndemic approach to malaria and cutaneous leishmaniasis in post-conflict Colombia
Oxford: InSIS; Bogotá: CIDER. Available in English and Spanish.
2023
Other publications (selected)
Turn off the Hunger, but Not the Pots!” Society for Cultural Anthropology.
Fieldsights (blog). July 1, 2021. Available in English and Spanish.
2021
book Reviews (selected)
Book review on Publics and Their Health: Historical Problems and Perspectives
by Alex Mold, Peder Clark and Hannah J. Elizabeth (eds.). Isis.
2025
My work in the media
“Health for Peace: Illness and Health in Times of War and Post-Conflict in Colombia,”
presented on June 20 at Parque Explora Science and Technology Museum (Medellín, Colombia) as part of the public event series, Science by Bike. Recording of the event available in Spanish.
2024
awards
My work has been honored with distinctions, including an Honorable Mention from the Society for Medical Anthropology (USA) and an award from the Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology, and Society (AJI) at the University of South Carolina (USA). My research has also been supported by funding from the Connected Minds program at York University (Canada), the British Academy (UK), and the Colombian Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MinCiencias), among other institutions.
2024
Seed grant from the Connected Minds Program at York University (Canada).
2021 . 2024
Research grant from the British Academy’s Humanities and Social Sciences Tackling Global Challenges Programme,
2021
Honorable Mention in the Society for Medical Anthropology Dissertation Award competition (USA)
2020 . 2021
Grant to establish collaborations with academics within the EcoSocieties Interdisciplinary Research Cluster at the University of Nottingham (UK)
2020
Winner of the 2020 Ann Johnson Institute for Science, Technology & Society Book Manuscript Workshop, University of South Carolina (Columbia, SC, USA)
2018 . 2019
Provost Dissertation Scholarship at York University (Toronto, Canada)
2017
Manulife Graduate Scholarship (Toronto, Canada)
2015 . 2018
Scholarship from the Government for Doctoral Studies Abroad (Colombia)
2011
First place winner of the Medical Biotechnology Journalism Contest, organized by Roche Pharmaceuticals and the Biotechnology Institute at Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Bogotá, Colombia)
2007 . 2009
Konrad Adenauer Foundation Scholarship (Germany)
2006
Best score in the state exam (ECAES) for biology graduates from Universidad de los Andes and second-best score nationally (Colombia)