Mark Edberg

Associate Professor of Prevention and Community Health and of Anthropology
E-mail medberg@gwu.edu
Office: 2175 K St. / (202) 530-2330

Mark Edberg is a medical anthropologist whose work focuses on public health issues among marginal populations, especially immigrants and refugees.

Research

Prof. Edberg studies how poverty and marginalization intersect with key health issues, such as HIV/AIDS, substance use, and youth violence. A researcher and consultant with strong interests in theory and in developing and evaluating prevention programs, Dr. Edberg says, "It has been my goal to contribute whatever I can to bridging the gap between the public health approach to these challenges and the ways in which affected populations understand and frame their relationship to a specific issue." He has done field or project work in urban areas of America and in Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean and retains a strong interest in immigrant and refugee populations, collaborating closely with organizations in the Hispanic/Latino and Southeast Asian communities.

Prof. Edberg also has experience in social marketing, mass media and public information, essential tools to avoid the cultural roadblocks that sometimes impede effective communication. As well, he is a working musician and founder of The Furies, a modern rock band that plays original music in the DC area.

Current Research Projects

1. Dr. Edberg is principal investigator on a CDC grant exploring community factors related to violence in the Washington-area Latino community; co-principal investigator on an evaluation of a project intended to prevent sexual exploitation; and a community assessment evaluator on an HIV/AIDS and TB-related effort. Recently, he served as co-PI on a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant that examined substance use and HIV/AIDS risk among Southeast Asian populations; he was also involved in a related study focusing on domestic violence in the same communities.
   
2. Dr. Edberg is project director implementing an evaluation data system he helped to develop for community-based health promotion programs funded by the DHHS Office of Minority Health.

Selected Publications

For Dr. Edberg's complete CV, click here.

Books

2007	Edberg, M.C. Essentials of Health Behavior: Social and Behavorial Theory in Public Health. In: Essentials of Public Health Series. Boston: Jones and Bartlett.
2004	Edberg, Mark Cameron.El narcotraficante: Narcocorridos and the Construction of a Cultural Persona on the U.S.-Mexico Border. inter-America Series. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Articles and Book Chapters

[2008]	Edberg, Mark C. "Risk rehavior theory and its discontents: A generative approach to understanding violence, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse and other risk behavior," Medical Anthropology Quarterly. (In press)
2007	Edberg, Mark C. "Connections between violence, adolescent identity and poverty: The limits of current theory in understanding and preventing youth violence." Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences. Melbourne: The Globalism Institute.
2004	Edberg, Mark C. "The narcotrafficker in representation and practice: A cultural persona from the Mexican border," Ethos 32(2): 257-77.
2003	Edberg, M., A. Bekelman, M. Cohen and D. Galvin. "Conducting substance abuse prevention research in a workplace setting: Issues and barriers." Report. Rockville (MD): Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), Department of Health and Human Services (US).

Courses Taught

Anth 117: Methods in Sociocultural Anthropology
PubH 226: Health Behavior and Health Education
PubH 364: Qualitative Methods in Health Promotion
PubH 121: Principles of Health Education and Health Promotion
PubH 185: Impact of Culture on Health
PubH 377: High Risk and Special Populations

Education

Ph.D. 2000, University of Virginia
M.A. 1989, American University
M.A. 1982, UCLA
B.A. 1978, Uc-Santa Barbara