Francisco Ortega

Francisco Ortega is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine at King’s College London and an ICREA Research Professor at the Medical Anthropology Research Center, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona. His work critically examines neurocentric ideologies, focusing on neuro-disciplines such as neuroethics, cultural neuroscience, and autism studies. Ortega’s research explores how neuroscientific concepts shape identity, mental health policies, and cultural practices.

He has held a long-standing position at the Institute for Social Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, and directs the Rio Centre for Global Health. His interdisciplinary approach integrates medical anthropology, sociology, and philosophy to analyze issues like the medicalization of childhood (e.g., ADHD), the neurodiversity movement, and the impact of brain imaging technologies.

Ortega’s publications include Being Brains: Making the Cerebral Subject (2017) and Corporeality, Medical Technologies and Contemporary Culture (2010). He frequently engages with global mental health debates, critiquing primitivist tropes in community healthcare and advocating for ethical, culturally sensitive approaches to mental health care.