Barbara Rylko-Bauer is an anthropologist and a professor at Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

's Department of Anthropology. She was born in 1950 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and emigrated with her parents to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 that same year.

Career

In 1985, she received an undergraduate degree in microbiology from the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

, she later received a PhD from the University of Kentucky

University of Kentucky

The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...

. Her interests include medical anthropology

Medical anthropology

Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary field which studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives...

, applied anthropology

Applied anthropology

Applied anthropology refers to the application of the method and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems. In as much as anthropology traditionally entails four sub-disciplines--Archaeology, biological/physical, cultural/social, and linguistic anthropology—the...

, social suffering, health care inequities in the US, health and human rights, narrative analysis and the Holocaust. She has published various articles, chapters, and books on these topics. She has also served as a contributing editor for the Society for Medical Anthropology

Society for Medical Anthropology

The Organization of Medical Anthropology was formed in 1967 and first met on April 27, 1968, at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology , during which the Medical Anthropology Newsletter was conceived and first published in October 1968 with 53 subscribers...

 (1991–1994), a book review editor for Medical Anthropology Quarterly (1994–2000), and on several committees for the Society for Applied Anthropology

Society for Applied Anthropology

The Society for Applied Anthropology is a U.S.-based professional association for applied anthropology, established "to promote the integration of anthropological perspectives and methods in solving human problems throughout the world; to advocate for fair and just public policy based upon sound...

.

Her most recent work focuses on the intersection of health and violence and includes a volume edited in collaboration with Linda Whiteford and Paul Farmer

Awards

In 2003, Barbara Rylko-Bauer won the Rudolph Virchow Award

Rudolph Virchow Award

- About the Award :The Rudolf Virchow Awards are given by the Critical Anthropology for Global Health Study Group, a special interest group of Society for Medical Anthropology...

 for her work with Paul Farmer

Paul Farmer

Dr. Paul Edward Farmer is an American anthropologist and physician. He is currently the Kolokotrones University Professor at Harvard University, formerly the Presley Professor of Medical Anthropology in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an attending physician and Chief...

.