Sarah B Horton

Sarah B Horton is Chair and Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Denver, specializing in Latino health disparities, migration and transnationalism, and farmworkers' occupational health. She earned her PhD in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico (2003) and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University's Department of Social Medicine (2003-2005).

• Education:
  • PhD, Anthropology, University of New Mexico (2003)
  • M.A., Anthropology, Columbia University (1996)
  • B.A., Literature & Society, Brown University (1992)

Dr. Horton's research examines the intersection of immigration policy and health outcomes, particularly among vulnerable migrant populations. Her work explores transnational health dynamics, medical citizenship, and the social determinants of migrant health disparities. She has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in California's Central Valley, focusing on farmworkers' exposure to environmental hazards and systemic barriers to healthcare access.

Her peer-reviewed publications (over 20) in journals like Social Science & Medicine and Medical Anthropology Quarterly analyze topics such as self-medication practices, stigmatized biologies, and medical repatriation. As lead ethnographer on an NIH-funded study at UCSF (2005-2007), she investigated oral health disparities among Mexican American farmworker children.

Scientific Awards:

• Steven J. Polgar Prize (2011) for best article in Medical Anthropology Quarterly

Her research has been funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States. She teaches courses on the Anthropology of Globalization, Migrant Health, and Globalization, Migration & Transnationalism.