Janis H. Jenkins

Dr. Janis H. Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Psychiatry at UC San Diego and Director of the Center for Global Mental Health. Her research examines culture, mental health, and structural adversity, with theoretical contributions on 'extraordinary conditions' linking personal distress to poverty, racism, and stigma. She completed her Ph.D. at UCLA and postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School.

Research employs ethnographic methods across diverse populations including Latinx migrants, refugees, and indigenous communities, with fieldwork in clinical, educational, and community settings. Key concepts include 'struggle' as central to illness experiences and political subjectivity through phenomenological frameworks.

Honors encompass presidency of the Society for Psychological Anthropology (2023-2025), residencies at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study and Rockefeller Bellagio Center, and editorial roles for Ethos and Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry.