Gabriela Morales

Gabriela Morales is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Scripps College. She is affiliated with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program and the Science, Technology, and Society department.

• Ph.D., Anthropology, Yale University (2017)
• M.Phil., Anthropology, Yale University (2013)
• B.A., Anthropology and English, University of Arizona (2010)

Her research sits at the intersection of medical and political anthropology, focusing on health institutions and systemic transformations in highland Bolivia. Her award-winning book, Decolonizing Medicine: Indigenous Politics and the Practice of Care in Bolivia (Stanford University Press, 2025), examines state-led decolonization of Bolivia’s healthcare system during Evo Morales’s presidency. She is currently researching chronic occupational illnesses among Bolivian miners following the closure of mining centers.

Professor Morales teaches courses on the history of anthropological theory, medical anthropology, science and colonialism, and state-society dynamics in Latin America. Her work integrates decolonial frameworks and critiques of global health disparities.