Linda Garro

Linda Garro is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), affiliated with the College of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on psychocultural and medical anthropology, particularly health care decision making, narrative constructions of illness, and the interplay of cultural models in everyday health practices. She has held significant roles including guest editorships in journals like Social Science and Medicine and Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry.

Garro holds dual PhDs in Psychology (Duke University, 1982) and Social Sciences (UC Irvine, 1983). She has been honored with the Distinguished Teaching Award (2008, UCLA Academic Senate) and the Stirling Award (1999, Society for Psychological Anthropology). Her National Health Research Scholar award (Canada) supported five years of career development.

Her work bridges cognitive anthropology and medical anthropology, emphasizing how cultural frameworks shape illness narratives and health behaviors. Key topics include chronic illness experiences (e.g., temporomandibular joint disorder, diabetes), the role of memory in health storytelling, and culturally competent psychotherapy approaches. She has conducted fieldwork among Indigenous communities (Anishinaabe/Ojibway, Dakota) and Mexican-origin families in California, analyzing health decision-making processes through ethnographic and narrative analyses.

Publications span monographs like Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing (2000, co-edited with Cheryl Mattingly) and influential articles on cultural models of health, decision-making rationality, and the socio-cultural dimensions of chronic conditions. Her research highlights the need for culturally responsive healthcare systems and the ethical implications of health narratives.