Murphy Halliburton

Professor Murphy Halliburton is a faculty member at the CUNY Graduate Center and Queens College, specializing in medical anthropology, Science and Technology Studies, and the anthropology of pharmaceuticals. His research focuses on biomedical psychiatric practices, global intellectual property policies, and South Asian medical systems like Ayurveda. He holds a Ph.D. from CUNY (2000) and has conducted extensive fieldwork in India, including a Fulbright-funded study in Kerala (2014).

His research interests include the anthropology of pharmaceuticals, global mental health movements, biopiracy of traditional knowledge, and the intersection of intellectual property laws with medical practices. He has published two books: India and the Patent Wars (2017) and Mudpacks and Prozac (2009), alongside numerous articles analyzing healthcare systems, cultural shifts in mental health terminology, and the impact of patent regimes on global health equity.

Professor Halliburton teaches courses such as Intro to Cultural Anthropology, Medical Anthropology, and Science, Technology, and Culture. His recent projects include investigating eugenics history at Stanford University and California public schools, blending ethnographic fieldwork with theoretical contributions to anthropological studies of the body and embodiment.