Lauren Minsky

Lauren Minsky is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Health Studies at Haverford College, teaching courses including Introduction to Health Studies, Sacrifice Zones, Cancer & Climate Change, Traditional Medicine, and Metabolic Disorders. She holds a Ph.D. and B.A. (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her research bridges contemporary environmental justice and historical health systems:

• Current work examines fossil fuel pollution's cancerous impacts in Pennsylvania's Delaware River Valley, including developing the PCIST cancer screening tool for communities like Chester and Marcus Hook.
• Historical scholarship analyzes agrarian health, healing practices, and environmental change in South Asia/Indian Ocean regions (1000 CE-present), exploring peasant resilience amid commercialization.

Publications focus on colonial medicine, agrarian health, and environmental history, with recurring themes of:

• Colonial public health interventions in Punjab/Bengal
• Trade-environment-health nexuses
• Indigenous healing institutions

Awards & Fellowships

• Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton) Mellon Fellowship
• SSRC-CUP Book Award Fellowship
• Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellowship
• ACLS International Research Fellowship
• Mellon Fellowship in Humanistic Studies

She serves as a reviewer for the American Institute of Indian Studies and journals including Journal of Asian Studies and Medical History.