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Biography

Dr. Melina Sherman is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology who specializes in medical anthropology. She received her B.A. in Communication from Northwestern º£½ÇÖ±²¥ (2013) and both her M.A. and PhD in Communication from the º£½ÇÖ±²¥ of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (2016; 2018).

During her time at USC, Dr. Sherman trained with scholars in medical anthropology and science and technology studies (STS), whose guidance informs her multidisciplinary approach to the study of health and illness.

After receiving her PhD, Dr. Sherman worked as a postdoctoral researcher at New York º£½ÇÖ±²¥, where she led several research projects to examine the social and cultural life of COVID-19. Dr. Sherman continued to conduct research on health-related topics after her postdoctoral appointment while working as a Health Researcher at Knology, a social science research organization based in New York City. At Knology, Dr. Sherman served as Principal Investigator on three NIH-funded health equity program evaluations, which involved working closely with community organizations and BIPOC-serving non-profits. She then accepted a position as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Fairfield º£½ÇÖ±²¥ before joining the Anthropology department at UCF.

Dr. Sherman’s research mobilizes a multidisciplinary approach to examine the relationship between contemporary health crises, chronic illness, and social suffering in the United States. Her dedication to these topics is reflected in her publication record, which includes a book published by Oxford º£½ÇÖ±²¥ Press (2024) and more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles published in journals such as Social Science & Medicine; Public Culture; American Anthropologist; Medicine, Anthropology, Theory; Somatosphere; the International Journal of Communication; and Communication, Culture and Critique. Dr. Sherman’s first book, How We Hurt: The Politics of Pain in the Opioid Epidemic examines the opioid overdose crisis using anthropological theories and a combination of qualitative research methods. Each chapter applies a unique approach to explore the how the relationships that formed in Western medicine and US culture between opioid use and chronic pain have shaped the trajectory of the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Sherman’s current research uses interviews and digital ethnographic methods to study the formation of chronic illness advocacy communities and the different forms of health expertise that have evolved since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, she is documenting how people living with debilitating chronic conditions like Long COVID and ME/CFS leverage their own and others’ lived experiences to produce scientific knowledge and advocate for visibility, recognition, and access to care.