I am a sociocultural anthropologist who specializes in medical anthropology and has considerable field experience in Global Health, health disparities, and ethnomedicine broadly defined. I have conducted research on a wide range of topics from child survival and reproductive health to emerging infectious diseases, and from mental health to pharmaceutical practice and tobacco control. As an engaged anthropologist I have spent much of my life demonstrating how anthropology can contribute to real world problem solving through a multi-stage process of formative research. As a social theorist I study illness and healing as entry points for understanding identity projects, gender roles, the politics of responsibility, citizenship, biopolitics, biocommunicability, trust, and so much more. I have conducted research in South India as well as Sri Lanka and The Philippines, and have served in a support role for projects in Indonesia, Thailand, West Africa, and Latin America. Aside from anthropology, I have postdoctoral training in Public Health and Psychiatry. To be a scholar activist requires a fair amount of reflexivity and involves many personal and professional challenges. On a lighter note, things that bring me joy are my family and friends, clear thought and glassy waves, the adventures of travel, poetry in motion, musical expression, and the aesthetics of everyday life.

Watch Dr. Nichter's video Pathways to Health on the Anthropology Videos page.

Ph.D. U of Edinburgh, 1977; MPH Johns Hopkins School of Public Health -International Health 1978; Post Doc:. University of Hawaii School of Medicine Transcultural psychiatry 1980-1982

I have broad research interests in the topical areas of: Anthropology of health and development; medical anthropology; the interface between anthropology and epidemiology; ecosocial epidemiology and political ecology; ethnomedicine and approaches to healing inclusive of alternative and complementary medicine in the USA; medical anthropology in clinical settings; health disparity and the politics of responsibility; globalization; the marketing of desire; governance projects and processes; the study of risk, harm reduction, and trust.

I have research interests in the following ethnographic regions: South Asia especially South India, Southeast Asia especially the Indonesia, Philippines and N.E. Thailand; the USA.

My current research involves: multilevel ethnographic study of pharmaceutical and diagnostic test related behavior; infectious and vector borne disease; tobacco use, dependence and marketing; the outsourcing of clinical trials to developing countries.

Mark Nichter and Mimi Nichter.  Revisiting the concept of Karma: lessons from a Dhanvantri Homa.  Journal of Ritual Studies : December 2010

Mark Nichter.  Idioms of Distress Revisited.  Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 34(2): 401–416, 2010.

Mark Nichter, Mimi Nichter, Myra Muramoto, and Project Quit Tobacco International  Project Quit Tobacco International:  Laying the groundwork for tobacco cessation in low- and middle-income countries.  Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 22(3): 181S–188S, 2010

 Charles L. Briggs and Mark Nichter.  Biocommunicability and the biopolitics of pandemic threats.  Medical Anthropology 28(3): 189–198, 2009.

Jennifer Jo Thompson, Cheryl Ritenbaugh, and Mark Nicther. Reconsidering the placebo response from a broad anthropological perspective.  Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry 33(1): 112–152, 2009.

James Pfeiffer and Mark Nichter for the Critical Medical Anthropology for Global Health Special Interest Group. What can critical medical anthropology contribute to global health:  a health systems perspective.  Medical Anthropology Quarterly 22(4): 410–415, 2008.

[Mimi Nichter, S. Padmawati, M. Danardono, N. Ng, Y. Prabandari, and Mark Nichter].  Reading culture from tobacco advertisements in Indonesia.  Tobacco Control 18: 98–107, 2009.

Mark Nichter.  Coming to our senses:  appreciating the sensorial in medical anthropology.  Transcultural Psychiatry 45(2): 163–197, 2008.

Kathryn M. Orzech and Mark Nichter  From resilience to resistance: political ecological lessons from antibiotic and pesticide resistance.  Annual Review of Anthropology 37: 267–282, 2008.

Mark, Nichter Global Health:  Why Cultural Perceptions, Social Representations, and Biopolitics Matter.  University of Arizona Press.  Spring 2008.

Mark Nichter, Cecilia S. Acuin, and Alberta Vargas.  Introducing Zinc in a Diarrhoeal Disease Control Programme:  Guide to Conducting Formative Research.  Geneva:  World Health Organization, 2008. 

Mark Nichter and Margaret Lock, eds. New Horizons in Medical Anthropology. Routledge. 2002.  [paper and hardback

Optimus Foundation (UBS Bank), Social Science Support for Buruli Ulcer Research Project in Benin, The Cameroon, and Ghana (Research Support), 2009-2011 [$67,000 per year].

NIH/NCI Tobacco Cessation Training for acupuncture, massage, and chiropractic practitioners,  R01 CA137375-01AI (Myra Muramoto, PI; Mark Nichter, Co-Investigator), 2009–2014 [$3,141,019]

Fogarty International (NIH) Award, Building Capacity of Tobacco Cessation in India and Indonesia.  2007–2012. [PI] [$1,505,900].

NIH/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Arizona Complementary and Anlternative Medicine Research Training Program (ACAMRTP). Iris Bell. 2007–2012. [Core Mentor] [$1,936,774].

Southwest US
Southeast Asia
South Asia & Southeast Asia
North America (general)