Barbara Rylko-Bauer facts for kids
Barbara Rylko-Bauer (born 1950) is a writer and a medical anthropologist. This means she studies how health and illness are connected to culture and society. She lives in the United States. She also teaches at Michigan State University. She was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 1950. Her family moved to the United States that same year.
Her Work and Studies
Barbara Rylko-Bauer studied microbiology at the University of Michigan. Later, she earned her PhD in anthropology from the University of Kentucky in 1985. She is very interested in how health, culture, and society are linked.
What She Studies
Her main interests include:
- Medical anthropology: How health and illness are shaped by culture.
- Applied anthropology: Using anthropology to solve real-world problems.
- Social suffering: How large-scale events like wars cause widespread pain.
- Health care fairness: Looking at unequal access to healthcare in the U.S.
- Health and human rights: How everyone deserves good health.
- Stories and experiences: Analyzing personal stories to understand events.
- The Holocaust: Studying this historical event and its impact.
She has written many articles and books about these topics. She has also helped edit important anthropology journals.
Her Books and Research
Barbara Rylko-Bauer's recent work looks at how health is affected by violence. She helped edit a book called Global Health in Times of Violence. This book explores health issues during times of conflict.
She also wrote a special book about her mother's life. It is called A Polish Doctor in the Nazi Camps: My Mother's Memories of Imprisonment, Immigration, and a Life Remade. This book tells the story of her mother, who was a doctor. Her mother was a prisoner in Nazi labor camps. The book shares how she survived and rebuilt her life. First, she was a refugee doctor in Germany. Later, she moved to the United States.
Awards and Recognition
In 2003, Barbara Rylko-Bauer won the Rudolph Virchow Award. She received this award for her important work with another famous anthropologist, Paul Farmer.
