Peter Brown is Professor of Anthropology at Emory University and Director of the Emory Center for Health, Culture, and Society. Dr. Brown’s research interest and expertise are in the general area of medical anthropology, particularly the interaction of humans and their environment and how cultural practices can affect disease incidence.

Dr. Brown’s research has focused on parasitic diseases, particularly malaria, and in one disease of civilization – obesity. He is also interested in gender and health, with a particular interest in the generally unmarked category of male gender. He has worked on the Human Relations Area Files cross-cultural database on suicide and suicide prevention and has been involved in team research projects within communities including an ethnographic and ethnological study of an Alzheimer’s special care unit and a hospital-based study of explanatory models of tuberculosis. His current research lies in questions surrounding inequality and health.

Dr. Brown is editor-in-chief of Medical Anthropology, editor of Applying Anthropology and the Journal of Medical Anthropology, chair of the Emory College Curriculum Committee, and a member of the American Anthropological Association Commission on Long-range Planning.