New faculty: Anisha Chadha
New faculty member at Mount Holyoke College, Anisha Chadha, is a medical anthropologist who uses the tools and practices, as well as the methods, of sociocultural anthropology to study topics of health, medicine and illness.
Anisha Chadha intended to pursue a pre-med track as an undergraduate before continuing to medical school. However, an introductory anthropology course ultimately changed her career trajectory.
Chadha found that her initial interest in medicine stemmed from power relationships between doctors and patients as well as the kind of people who make biomedical technologies and the people on whom those technologies are tested.
“For me, medical anthropology really just gave me the tools and the language to really be able to explore the political economy of medicine. I didn't know that there were researchers in the social sciences who are looking at medicine, health and illness in those frameworks,” she said. “So by the time I finished undergrad, I knew I did not want to go to med school anymore. I wanted to get a Ph.D. I wanted to go into the research route in anthropology, so I went to grad school for that. And then the rest is history.”
With a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, and a master’s degree and a doctorate from New York University, Chadha joins the faculty at Mount Holyoke College this fall as the assistant professor of anthropology. Prior to this role, Chadha served as a visiting assistant professor at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario.
One of the reasons Chadha said she felt drawn to Mount Holyoke College was the possibility of engaging and mentoring students. Before the fall semester began, she visited the College campus and found that many of the students were very curious and intellectually motivated.
“I just love how at a liberal arts college … the education is really across all different fields,” she said. “Students were very focused and keen about studying anthropology but also very open to bringing other insights, like those of the health humanities or other cognate fields, to our discussions about medical anthropology.”
As a medical anthropologist, Chadha uses the tools and practices of as well as the methods of sociocultural anthropology to Indian medical technologies and markets. She plans to approach her medical anthropology classes through a variety of contemporary topics, such as politics, technologies and bioethics.
Besides meeting with students, Chadha is most looking forward to visiting the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst. The prolific poet attended Mount Holyoke from 1847 to 1848. Chadha is particularly fond of poetry and starts every day with a new poem. When not engrossed in an expressive verse, she can be found swimming laps at the pool or hiking local trails with her partner and their dog.
“I'm just so thrilled to have gotten this tenure track at Mount Holyoke and to have this place to learn and work and grow — hopefully long-term,” she said.
