Catherine Panter-Brick is the Bruce A. and Davi-Ellen Chabner Professor of Anthropology, Health, and Global Affairs. She holds a joint appointment in the Jackson School of Global Affairs and the Department of Anthropology. She is the head of Morse College and the chair of the Council of Heads of Colleges at Yale University.
Panter-Brick leads initiatives to develop sustained, equitable partnerships across research, practice, and policy. Her research and program evaluations with Afghan and Syrian refugees are leading examples of systems-level work on child and adolescent development, mental health, and social cohesion in war-affected communities. She received the Lucy Mair Medal, awarded by the Royal Anthropology Institute to honor excellence in the application of anthropology to the active recognition of human dignity.
On the issues of peacebuilding, resilience and mental health, Panter-Brick has been a keynote speaker at the United Nations, contributed to international media broadcasts, and presented at the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the United States Institute of Peace. Her work with Syrian refugee youth in Jordan is an example of research conducted to learn how interventions can alleviate stress, boost resilience, and improve lives in war-affected communities. It has been showcased in the award-winning documentary, Terror and Hope: The Science of Resilience, broadcasted on PBS television networks, and funded by elrha, the global research program informing decision-making in health research in humanitarian crises.
Panter-Brick has published more than 170 peer-reviewed scientific publications in the biomedical, health, and social sciences. She has coedited eight books, notably Medical Humanitarianism: Ethnographies of Practice and Pathways to Peace; two impact case studies on mental health support and good practice in research in humanitarian contexts; and four policy briefs on sustainable peacebuilding, fathers and peace and equity, religion and social justice, and resilience.
At Yale, Panter-Brick directs the Global Health Studies Multidisciplinary Academic Program at the Jackson School and the Program on Conflict, Resilience, and Health at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. Her teaching at Yale includes interdisciplinary courses on global health equity, humanitarian interventions, conflict and resilience.