Preethi Saravanan
I am a third year PhD student in Biological Anthropology, and a first-year trainee in the Biosocial Training Program. My current work focuses on the impact of migration, acculturation, and diet on cardiometabolic health in the South Asian diaspora. I am particularly interested in participatory, community-engaged scholarship and bringing an ethnographic perspective to studying health disparities.
Prior to my doctoral studies, I earned my bachelor's degree in molecular genetics exploring a variety of disciplines and populations, from oncogenic mutations in yeast to symbiotic microbes on rough-skinned newts to the AIDS epidemic and structural homophobia in India. I then taught for AmeriCorps in San Antonio, TX before getting my master's and pursuing a PhD here at UNC.
Research Interests
cardiometabolic health, South Asia, food cultures, migration, embodiment