Katherine Centellas

Katherine Centellas is the Croft Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mississippi, specializing in medical anthropology and science and technology studies. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in La Paz, Bolivia since 2000, focusing on state-level science, medical projects, and the intersection of grand engineering initiatives with healthcare practices. Her recent research examines the Bolivian-Chinese satellite Tupac Katari and its telehealth applications, exploring how large-scale projects interact with personal health practices under diverse epistemologies of care.

Education: B.A. Biological Sciences (University of Chicago, 1999), M.A. Anthropology (University of Chicago, 2002), Ph.D. Anthropology (University of Chicago, 2008). She joined the University of Mississippi faculty in 2009.

Research interests also include gender dynamics in academia, fieldwork methodologies, and the gendered narratives surrounding 'innovative' research sites. She co-founded the Bolivia Field School in 2010, offering hands-on training in social science research, and recently secured a Fulbright-Hays Award to expand student-led public health anthropology projects in Bolivia.

Her work bridges anthropology and engineering, interrogating how space programs and telehealth reshape healthcare equity. Courses taught include Medical Anthropology, Andean Culture Studies, and ethnographic field methods. She emphasizes experiential learning and has produced influential scholarship on science policy in the Global South.