School
School of Arts and Sciences
Department
School of Arts and Sciences
Office Location
Matricaria 4005C
Boston
Mobile Phone Mobile Phone: 507.261.0082
About
Shir Lerman Ginzburg is an assistant professor of public health at MCPHS Boston. She has both a PhD in medical anthropology and a master’s in public health from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Ginzburg studies diabetes, depression, and food insecurity in Puerto Rico. She has a particular interest in the effect of Puerto Rico’s political status as a US Commonwealth on healthcare decision-making and outcomes. In addition, she studies bioethics and health disparities among underserved populations. Dr. Ginzburg enjoys practicing mindfulness and yoga in her spare time.
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 2016
- Master of Public Health, University of Connecticut, 2015
- Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Chicago, 2008
- Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, University of Washington, 2007
Research Interests
- Anxiety
- Bioethics
- Caribbean
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Food Insecurity
- Health Disparities
- Health Justice
- Mental Health
- Mindfulness
- Obesity
- Puerto Rico
- Qualitative Methods
- Syndemics
- Vulnerable Populations
Programs
Featured Affiliations
American Anthropological Association
WebsiteAmerican Public Health Association
WebsiteSociety for Applied Anthropology
WebsiteEducation
- Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Anthropology, University of Connecticut, 2016
- Master of Public Health, University of Connecticut, 2015
- Master of Arts in Anthropology, University of Chicago, 2008
- Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, University of Washington, 2007
Research Interests
- Anxiety
- Bioethics
- Caribbean
- Depression
- Diabetes
- Food Insecurity
- Health Disparities
- Health Justice
- Mental Health
- Mindfulness
- Obesity
- Puerto Rico
- Qualitative Methods
- Syndemics
- Vulnerable Populations
Programs
Publications
I. Journals
- Dimitri NC, Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Sharon Ron, Daphne Xu, Sophia Angali England, Lydia Lowe, Pilar Botana Martínez, Cristina Araujo Brinkerhoff, Samiya Haque, Doug Brugge, and Linda Sprague Martínez. "Advancing Environmental Justice in the Community Using Charrette: A Case Study in Boston Chinatown." Environmental Justice. DOI: www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/env.2022.0001
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg and Stephen Schensul. 2023. "Problems Faced During the Beginning of the COVID Lockdown." Practicing Anthropology, 45(1): 23-27. DOI: doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.45.1.23
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Stephenie Lemon, and Milagros Rosal. 2022. “Ataque de Nervios in Neighborhood Settings.” Transcultural Psychiatry, 59(4): 438-447. DOI: doi.org/10.1177/1363461520935674
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Noelle C. Dimitri, Cristina Araujo Brinkerhoff, Sophia Angali England, Samiya Haque, and Linda Sprague Martinez. 2022. “Leadership, structure, and partnerships: Exploring intergroup conflict and CBPR partnerships.” Research for All, 6(1): 16. DOI: doi.org/10.14324/RFA.06.1.16
- Fletcher, Erica Hua, Emma Louise Backe, Tory Brykalski, Alex Fitzpatrick, Melinda Go Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Rob Meeker, Rachel P. Riendeau, and Meagan Thies-Sauder. 2022. “Mental Wellbeing among Anthropologists at Universities: A Call for System Transformation.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 36(1): 155-172. DOI: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35257413/
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2022. “Sweetened Syndemics: Obesity and Diabetes Syndemics in Puerto Rico.” Journal of Public Health, 30(3): 701-709. DOI: doi.org/10.1007/s10389- 020-01345-5
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2022. Colonial Comida: The Colonization of Food Security in Puerto Rico. Food, Culture, & Society, 25(1): 18-31. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2021.1884440
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Pilar Botana Martínez, Ellin Reisner, Shamira Chappell, Doug Brugge, and Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi. 2021. “An Evaluation of an Environmental Health Infographic in Community Settings”. Inquiry, 58: 1-10. DOI: doi.org/10.1177/00469580211059290
- Singer M, Nicola Bulled, Bayla Ostrach, and Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2021. Syndemics: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach to Complex Epidemic Events Like COVID-19. Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 51: 41-58. DOI: doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-100919-121009
- Sprague Martínez L, Shir Lerman Ginzburg, and Sharon Ron. 2021. How Political History Shapes Environmental Health Action. Public Health Post. 24th September 2021. https://www.publichealthpost.org/research/environmental-health-action/
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2021. Can Anthropology Help Heal Puerto Rico’s Diabetes Crisis? Sapiens. 7th September 2021. www.sapiens.org/biology/diabetes-crisis-puerto-rico/
- Brugge, D, Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Neelakshi Hudda, Linda Sprague Martínez, Leigh Meunier, Scott Hersey, Ira Hochman, Doug Walker, Ben Echevarría, Mohan Thanikachalam, John Durant, Wig Zamore, and Misha Eliasziw. 2021. “A randomized crossover trial of HEPA air filtration to reduce cardiovascular risk for near highway residents: Methods and approach.” Contemporary Clinical Trials, 108:106520. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2021.106520
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Stephenie Lemon, Eric Romo, and Milagros Rosal. 2021. “Social Support and Strain and Emotional Distress among Latinos in the Northeastern United States.” BMC Psychology, 9:40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-021-00544-3
- Ron S, Noelle Dimitri, Shir Lerman Ginzburg, Ellin Reisner, Pilar Botana Martínez, Wig Zamore, Ben Echevarría, Doug Brugge, and Linda Sprague Martínez. 2021. “Health Lens Analysis: A Strategy to Engage Community in Environmental Health Research in Action”. Sustainability, 13(4): 1748. DOI: doi.org/10.3390/su13041748
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2021. Book Review of “Environmental Justice”, by Julie Sze. World Medical and Health Policy, 13(1): 159-162. DOI: doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.390
- Rodríguez-Soto I and Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2019. “Beyond Good and Bad Fat: Understanding Puerto Rican Body Size Norms”. CENTRO Journal, 31(3): 72-92. go-gale-com.ezproxymcp.flo.org/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=mcp_main&id=GALE|A609382021&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-AONE&asid=c509e395
- Shir Lerman. 2019. ¿Qué sistema de salud? The Affordable Care Act and the Broke Healthcare System in Puerto Rico. Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in HeIllness, 38(3): 210-223. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2018.1506451
- Shir Lerman. 2018. Syndemogenesis of Depression: New Directions in Syndemics Research. Medical Anthropology Theory, 5(4): 56-85. DOI: doi.org/10.17157/mat.5.4.549
- Shir Lerman, Molly Jung, Elva M. Arredondo, Janice M. Barnhart, Jianwen Cai, Sheila F. Castaneda, Martha L. Daviglus, Rebeca A. Espinoza, Aida L. Giachello, Kristine M. Molina, Krista Perreira, Hugo Salgado, Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, and Robert C. Kaplan. 2018. “Religiosity prevalence and its association with depression and anxiety symptoms among Hispanic/Latino adults.” PLoS One, 13(2): e0185661. DOI: doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0185661
- Yang EH.; Shir Lerman, Robert D. Simari, Lilach O. Lerman, and Amir Lerman. 2007 “Relation of depression to coronary endothelial function.” American Journal of Cardiology, 99(8): 1134-1136. doi.org/10.1016/j.amjcard.2006.11.054
II. Books
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2023 Taking Health to the Streets in Puerto Rico: Resisting Gastronomic, Psychiatric, and Diabetes Colonialism. Lexington Press: Lanham, MD. Learn more about the book.
- Shepard, R and Shir Lerman Ginzburg, eds. 2019 Gender and Health in Contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean. Lexington Press: Lanham, MD.
- Shir Lerman, Bayla Ostrach, and Merrill Singer, eds. 2017 Foundations of BioSocial Health: Stigma and Illness Interactions. Lexington Press: Lanham, MD.
- Ostrach B, Shir Lerman, and Merrill Singer, eds. 2017 Stigma Syndemics: New Directions in BioSocial Health. Lexington Press: Lanham, MD.
III. Book Chapters
- Garriga-López, A and Shir Lerman Ginzburg. Colonial Food Sovereignty: Puerto Rico’s Growing Agroecology Movement, Climate Change, and US Colonialism as a Barrier to Food Justice. In Transformations of Global Food Systems for Climate Change Resilience: Addressing Food Security, Nutrition, and Health. Preety Gadhoke and Barrett Brenton, e York: CRC Press. 2023; In Press.
- Martínez-Botana, MP and Shir Lerman Ginzburg. 2021 Community-level mitigation: Addressing combustion through planning, landscape, and building design. In Ambient Combustion Ultrafine Particles and Health. Doug Brugge and Christina H. Fuller, eds. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Pp. 401-418.
- Marcus, O and Shir Lerman. 2018 Ethical and Practical Complexities: Navigating the IRB to Conduct Ethnographies with Vulnerable Populations. In Ethics in Qualitative Research. SAGE Publishers. Martin Tolich and Ron Iphophen, eds. Pp. 203-214.
IV. Book Reviews
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. Book review of “Inequalities of Aging: Paradoxes of Independence in American Home Care”. Somatosphere. 2019. http://somatosphere.net/2019/elana-d-buchs-inequalities-of-aging-paradoxes-of- independence-in-american-home-care.html/
- Shir Lerman Ginzburg. Book review of “Food and Power: A Culinary Ethnography of Israel”, Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition. 2018 https://foodanthro.com/2018/11/23/review-food-and-power-a-culinary-ethnography-of-israel/
- Shir Lerman. Book review of “Syndemic Suffering: Social Distress, Depression, and Diabetes among Mexican Immigrant Women”, Anthropology Review Database. 2016. http://wings.buffalo.edu/ARD/cgi/showme.cgi?keycode=5583
- Shir Lerman. Book review of “Illness Is A Weapon”, Somatosphere. 2014. http://somatosphere.net/2014/05/eirik-saethres-illness-is-a-weapon.html