Michelle Munyikwa
PhD, medical student (MD '21)
University of Pennsylvania
michelle.munyikwa@gmail.com
Philadelphia, PA, USA

Area of expertise: Medical anthropology, anthropology of migration

I’m currently a student in the joint MD/PhD program in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. I defended my dissertation, Up from the Dirt: Racializing Refuge, Rupture, and Repair in Philadelphia, in 2019. I will graduate with my MD in 2021, after which I hope to pursue combined residency training in internal medicine and pediatrics.

A political and medical anthropologist by training, I am most interested in understanding the relationship between political economy, history, and practices of care. My dissertation research explored the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in Philadelphia and the institutions designed to care for them. I have also conducted research on political ideology in the United States, the use of race in biomedicine, and human rights & humanitarianism both domestically and abroad. Clinically, I am interested in work at the intersection of medicine, rights, and the law and have frequently collaborated with lawyers to advocate for patients.