The latest Residential Scholar at the University Indian Ruins is Dr. Anna Waldstein, a lecturer (assistant professor) in medical anthropology in the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent who has been granted sabbatical from January through April 2012.

Dr. Waldstein is an ecological anthropologist with research interests in medical anthropology and ethnobotany. During her stay at the University of Arizona she will be writing a book about healthcare in the United States. This work is based on her doctoral research, which focused on women's popular medical knowledge and self-care practices among Mexican migrants in the Southeastern United States.

Global ecological crisis threatens the stability of mainstream medicine in the United States and encouraging people to become more engaged in their own healthcare is rapidly becoming a necessity. Dr. Waldstein’s work with Mexican migrants shows that the use of home remedies can be very beneficial to health. However, there is a long, historical relationship between medicine and social control. Citizenship in many contemporary nations, including the United States, is based on the acceptance of both biomedical models of health/disease and professional advice/prescribed treatment. Dr. Waldstein’s work suggests that alternative and even illicit models of health and healing may be more sustainable for individuals, societies, and ecological systems.