Bonnie Bade

Bonnie Bade is a Professor and founder of the Anthropology Department at California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM). She also directs the CSUSM Community Ethnobotany Garden Laboratory. Her research focuses on farmworker health, transnational migration, ethnomedicine, and pesticide-related illnesses in agricultural communities. She has collaborated extensively with healthcare organizations, NGOs, and government entities to address migrant health disparities, including landmark studies like the California Agricultural Workers Health Survey (2000), which secured $50 million for farmworker health initiatives. Recent projects include studies on the impact of COVID-19 on California farmworkers and pesticide perception among Indigenous agricultural workers, funded by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

Key collaborations include work with the California Latino Legislative Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and San Luis Obispo County Department of Health. Bade’s methodologies emphasize collaborative anthropology, integrating ethnobotanical research with community-based participatory approaches. Her work bridges Indigenous Mesoamerican medicinal practices in both Mexico and California with contemporary public health challenges.