William W. Dressler
William W. Dressler (PhD Connecticut, 1978) is a medical anthropologist with interests in culture theory, community studies, research methods, and especially the relationship between culture and disease risk. In his earlier work Dressler adapted models of psychosocial stress to examine the association between social and cultural factors and the risk of chronic disease, including cardiovascular disease and dysthymic disorder. His recent work emphasizes concepts and methods for examining the health effects of individual efforts to achieve culturally-defined goals and aspirations. This work has necessitated the theoretical integration of cultural constructivist and social structural theoretical orientations, and the development of research methods for linking the cultural, the individual, and the biological. Dressler and colleagues have examined these factors in settings as diverse as urban Great Britain, the Southeast U.S., the West Indies, Mexico, and Samoa.
Current Research - With funding from the National Science Foundation, Dressler is conducting research on culture and health in Brazil with colleagues at the University of São Paulo-Ribeirão Preto. To read about this current research, you may link to the following documents (all in pdf format):
Professional Activities and Awards - Dressler has served as Associate Editor of Human Organization (1986-1988), and as a member of the editorial board of Ethnicity and Disease (1991-1996) and of Santé, Culture, Health (1988-1996). He is currently a member of the editorial board of the Medical Anthropology Quarterly. He served as a member of the Executive Board of the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA) from 1988-1991, and from1998-2002 he was President of the SMA. Dressler won the Stirling Award of the Society for Psychological Anthropology in 1979. He served as University Research Fellow of The University of Alabama (1984-1986). In 2000 Prof. Dressler was the John P. Kirscht Distinguished Lecturer, School of Public Health, University of Michigan and in 2002 was Distinguished Lecturer, Graduate Student Invitational Lecture at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. Also in 2002 he received the University of Alabama's Burnum Distinguished Faculty Award. In 2005 he was named a College of Arts & Sciences Leadership Board Faculty Fellow.
Contact Dr. Dressler at: wdressle@tenhoor.as.ua.edu
Office: 18 ten Hoor Hall
Phone: (205) 348-1954