The Minority Dissertation Fellowship Committee is pleased to award Saira Mehmood with the 2018–2019 Minority Dissertation Fellowship. Mehmood's doctoral work, which looks at mental health services available to medically underserved racially minoritized communities in post Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana, is needed research. Moreover, her work is situated in medical anthropology examining race and disease in the United States, which is critically important for the further development of the subfield.
Not only does Mehmood demonstrate intellectual rigor and present a clear argument that is grounded in anthropology, but her work extends to and engages with other fields of research. The methods she uses are innovative in the sense that they draw on interdisciplinary techniques, toolkits, and insights including anthropology, public health, public policy, and government. With a strong public anthropology bent, her work is positioned to potentially contribute important findings to the field of anthropology as well as public health and public policy. Mehmood demonstrates clear practical applications for her work that clearly illustrates the importance of stellar anthropological research to address social issues in context.
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