Dr. Matthew Thomann has been awarded the prestigious US Fulbright Scholar Award to support ethnographic research in Nairobi, Kenya focused on the individual experiences of sexual and gender minorities living with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Specifically, his research will document participants’ narratives of treatment encounters (and avoidances), pain, suffering, and the affective impact of complicated anal warts on livelihood (i.e., sex work), maintaining vital social networks (i.e., familial rejection), and sexual intimacy. In addition to generating anthropological knowledge and developing an evidence base that community leaders can use to bolster their efforts to confront this emerging health crisis, this project responds to the global health alarm over emerging cancer epidemics in African contexts hardest hit by the HIV epidemic. Dr. Thomann's institutional home during his tenure as a Fulbright fellow will be the Institute of Anthropology, Gender, and African Studies at the University of Nairobi.

Congratulations Dr. Thomann!