Dr. Andrea Sankar is Professor and Chair in the Department of Anthropology.
Main Discipline(s):
Main Professional Societies:
Affiliation(s):
- Anthropology
- American Anthropological Society
- Society for Applied Anthropology
- Gerontological Society of America
- Professor, Department of Anthroplogy, Wayne State University
What are your undergraduate and graduate degrees in and from where?
I got my BA from the University of Michigan in Chinese and my PhD there in Anthropology. I did my post-doc research at University of California-San Francisco in Medical Anthropology
Give a brief summary (250 words or less) of your current area of research.
My colleagues and I recently completed a joint project with Ford Motor Company (FMC) and the United Auto Workers (UAW), “Promoting COVID19 Mitigation and Trust for Workplace & Community Safety”. This collaboration was solicited by FMC who sought assistance to improve their workplace response to COVID19. They reached out to me because of work that my colleagues and I had recently completed with General Motors (GM). There we conducted the beta test on an app to reduce distracted driving, “Call me out”.
Trust in health advice, particularly regarding COVID19, adds new challenges to otherwise routine widely used workplace health and safety protective practices and equipment. Due to its novelty a wide variety of ideas and concerns about the virus, testing, PPE, and vaccination exist, correct and not, which shape employees’ virus prevention habits and practices. A great many challenges confront efforts to reduce transmission and ensure healthy communities including uncertainty and distrust surrounding shifts in public health and medical advice, politicization of practices, and local norms. A global consensus exists that capturing individual insights and social values is needed to adapt existing best practice strategies for communication and behavioral practices that promote testing, compliance to PPE and safe habits which are the keys to ensuring trust and safety in the workplace and wider community. Findings from this project have informed the public information and plant-based efforts by both FMC and the UAW to increase PPE practices and vaccination uptake.
How did you arrive at your current area of research?
As my career has evolved, I have become more and more engaged in public anthropology, meaning that I work on topics that community partners and stake holders have identified as important to them. I developed my collaborative partnerships through years of NIH funded AIDS/HIV research in Detroit. Because of my methodological expertise in qualitative research and my scholarship in medical anthropology, I have been contacted by groups outside the university for help in addressing health related issues. Recent partners include the Michigan Department of Community Health, General Motors, Nissan Motors, Ford Motor Company.
What do you see as a current emerging area of research that you would like to participate in and why?
Going forward I intend to work on research problems associated with urban sustainability from the perspective of health.
Tell us your (one) favorite STEM research paper or book. Why it is your favorite?
“The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Concept” Stanvliet et. al, Annals of the NY Academy of Science, 2004. I love this article, recommended to me and my class by Prof. Donna Kashian. The article describes how urban planners in Cape Town, South Africa integrated sustainable development ecological principles into their design for the city. It is the best demonstration of the integration of biological and cultural principles in urban planning that I have encountered.
What do you do for fun outside of your role as a woman in STEM?
I actually enjoy being chair of my department as it allows me to help shape our field and to contribute to the professional development and advancement of my colleagues. In what time I have left, I practice yoga, play tennis, garden, and read. Most important of all is my family and I am with them whenever we can meet together.