Rebecca Crocker is an Assistant Research Professor in the University of Arizona College of Public Health, where she uses her background as a medical anthropologist to take a community-centered approach to investigating the intersection of migration and health. As part of diverse and multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, she brings an ethnographic and contextual lens to deepen our understanding of the heavy burden of chronic disease and related complications affecting Mexican origin communities in the US Southwest, community levels sources of stress and resilience, the emotional experience of migration, traditional healing modalities, and binational barriers to medical care access. Her work has been widely published in academic journals of anthropology, public health, and ethnohistory, cited in the Washington Post, and used to craft applied reports designed to meet the needs of local service organizations and Tucson city efforts.

Research Interests

Rebecca's primary areas of research focus on the intersection of displacement and health and include lived experiences of migration and related suffering; sources of ecologic stress; traditional healing practices and Indigenous health knowledge; binational barriers to health care; and health experiences related to complications from diabetes and liver disease.

Education

1994                B.A. History, Honors in Latin American Studies, Stanford University.

1999                M.A. Latin American Studies, Stanford University.

2016                Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Arizona. 

Selected Publications

2024  Crocker, R.M., Duenas, K. R., Castro, I., Ingram, M., Torres, E., & Carvajal, S. C. (2024). Knowledge of the Stress–Health Link as a Source of Resilience Among Mexicans in the Arizona Borderlands. Qualitative Health Research, 10497323241251776. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323241251776

2024  Crocker, R.M, Martínez, D. E., Maldonado, A., & Garcia, D. O. The maintenance of Mexican traditional medicine practices among Mexicans in southern Arizona. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 351, 116982.

2021  Crocker, R.M., Palmer, Kelly N.B, Marrero, David G, & Tan, Tze-Woei. Patient perspectives on the physical, psycho-social, and financial impacts of diabetic foot ulceration and amputation. Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, 35(8), 107960–107960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2021.107960.

Publications available on PubMed
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%28crocker+rebecca%5BAuthor%5D%29+AND+arizona%5BAffiliation%5D

Research Areas

Border Health
Disease Prevention
Health Disparities
Health Promotion
Hispanic Health

Languages Spoken: English, Spanish