Philippe Bourgois

Philippe Bourgois is a Professor-in-Residence at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, specializing in medical and cultural anthropology. His work focuses on structural vulnerability, urban poverty, and the intersections of substance abuse, incarceration, and mental health. A leading scholar in public health anthropology, he has conducted fieldwork in Central America and U.S. inner cities, addressing systemic inequities.

• Roles: Professor, Ethnographer, Principal Investigator (NIH grants), Co-Author of Cornered (Princeton UP, forthcoming).
• Education: PhD in Anthropology.

Research Interests: Social inequality, substance abuse, incarceration, homelessness, mental illness, HIV/AIDS, and urban marginalization. His projects include documenting narcotics markets in Philadelphia and mental health crises in Los Angeles, emphasizing structural violence and racial segregation.

Grants & Awards: Over 20 NIH grants since 1996, including a 21-year HIV risk environment study. His book In Search of Respect won multiple awards. He co-founded UCSF’s Department of Social Medicine and collaborates with UCLA’s MSTP program.

Advising & Teams: Leads the UCLA Center for Social Medicine, advising on clinician-scientist training. Collaborates with global teams on drug policy, mental health, and ethnographic research.

Labs/Teams: UCLA Center for Social Medicine, LA County Jail peer support program, and international drug policy initiatives.