- KATHLEEN RAGSDALE -

Applied Medical Anthropologist
Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Vita for Kathleen Ragsdale (Word doc.) Email:  kathleen.ragsdale@ssrc.msstate.edu Phone:  662-325-7523 or 662-325-9168 Fax:  662-325-8690 Address: Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work P.O. Box C Mississippi State, MS 39762 Professional Interests Dr. Kathleen Ragsdale received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida in December of 2002, where she specialized in medical anthropology and health communication. Her academic and research interests include minority health disparities and HIV/AIDS; applied anthropology as it relates to public health; gender and power disparities; ethically relevant research; and health-related social justice for minority and vulnerable populations. Her research primarily focuses on gender and power disparities relevant to risk behaviors among young adults. She has conducted research to explore: relationship power, biculturalism, and sexual risk behavior within steady relationships among inner-city Latinas in the U.S.; emotional and sexual intimacy development within new dating relationships among a longitudinal sample of gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; sexual risk behavior and substance use among MSM tourists in Key West, Florida, and attending Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, Louisiana; vacation-specific casual sexual intentions, condom procurement, and condom use initiation among tourist women in Jacó, Costa Rica; sexual risk and HIV risk reduction behaviors among brothel-based sex workers in Orange Walk Town, Belize; cultural responses to disease and illness through the use of medicinal plants common to the urban landscape among ethnically diverse immigrants in Miami, Florida; post-disaster response of hurricane victims, Red Cross volunteers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) relief workers in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn in the U.S. Virgin Islands; and head lice treatment efficacy among an indigenous Kuna Yala community experiencing endemic head lice infestation in Ticantiki, Kuna Yala, Panama. Dr. Ragsdale has published in journals such as Culture, Health & Sexuality; Journal of Community Health; Sexually Transmitted Diseases; and Cultural Diversity. She has contributed to the Encyclopedia of Epidemiology; Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology; Handbook of Ethical Research with Ethnocultural Populations and Communities; Sun, Sex, and Gold: Tourism and Sex Work in the Caribbean; and Ethnicity, Gender, and the Political Economy of Disasters: Hurricane Andrew and the Reshaping of Miami. In 2007, Dr. Ragsdale joined the Mississippi State University Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work as an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and holds a joint appointment as a Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Center. During 2005-2007, Dr. Ragsdale was a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) Postdoctoral Fellow in Behavioral Science Training in Drug Abuse Research at the National Development and Research Institutes, New York, New York. During 2003-2004, Dr. Ragsdale was a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Dr. Ragsdale is the recipient of the Health Disparities Research Loan Repayment Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH); NIDA Director’s Travel Award; John M. Goggin Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Research and Writing in Anthropology from the University of Florida; and a Tinker Field Research Grant Award. She is the Society for Medical Anthropology Contributing Editor to Anthropology News, and has been selected by the American Anthropological Association to run on the 2007 ballot for the Committee on Public Policy. Dr. Ragsdale also serves as an evaluation and grant-writing consultant for academic and community-based and non-profit organizations.

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