Today we have a researchers’ roundtable with Angie Mejia, Chandi Katoch, and Jorge Benavides Rawson.
Jorge Benavides-Rawson is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology at the George Washington University and a Visiting Fellow in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Science, Technology and Society (STS). His dissertation research examines the interaction of public health policy-makers, scientists, and the media as coproducers of international and global policies for epidemics and pandemics. To trace the coproduction of pandemics, Jorge is conducting multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, comparing diverse forms of knowledge production about Zika and Covid-19 in various locations of the United States and his home country of Costa Rica. Jorge holds an MA (2015) in Medical Anthropology from the George Washington University.
Chandi Katoch is a senior at the University of Minnesota Rochester studying health sciences. She is pursuing medical school with the intent to work as a physician in emergency medicine. She currently works in a group home healthcare setting and is an Emergency Medical Technician. She is a board member of The Village Community Garden and Learning Center in Rochester, MN where she researches resiliency in diverse growers. She is also researching mental health in Black Indigenous People Of Color women pursuing STEM careers.

Angie Mejia, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Civic Engagement Scholar at the Center for Learning Innovation at the University of Minnesota Rochester.  Her research uses participatory methods and cross-community collaborations to study emotional health inequities in historically marginalized and socio-politically dispossessed communities. Her work has appeared in several academic journals, including Theory in Action, Action Research, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, and Cultural Studies Critical Methodologies. Website: angiemejia.com.