The Anthropological Responses to Health Emergencies (ARHE) Special Interest Group was one of this year’s recipients of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Presidents’ Award for the group’s extraordinary service. Dr. Deon Claiborne, Undergraduate Advisor for the MSU Department of Anthropology, is the Co-Chair of this group with Dr. Kristin Hedges of Grand Valley State University. The ARHE is a Special Interest Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology. The group’s overall mission is to engage and collaborate with colleagues working in the field of public health and infectious disease in emergency and humanitarian contexts.

With this honor, the ARHE group was “recognized for rapidly mobilizing a wide range of valuable information resources in response to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic, including a series of highly informative webinars, online background information resources, and an expanded roster of content area specialists ready to share their insights with response partner organizations and affected communities.” Dr. Claiborne has facilitated and promoted this work since the pandemic’s onset, and recently presented on this group’s role and effect during health emergencies at the American Anthropological Association’s virtual conference.

In response to this prestigious award, Dr. Claiborne expressed that “both Kristin and myself were surprised by this honor. It has been our pleasure to serve as Co-Chairs for ARHE and to develop, collaborate on, and moderate the three webinars we were involved with at the beginning of the pandemic.”

To learn more about the ARHE and access the group’s resources, visit their website: arhe.medanthro.net

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