Shelley Lees

Professor Shelley Lees is a Professor of Anthropology of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), affiliated with the Faculty of Public Health and Policy and the Department of Global Health and Development. She has spent 25 years conducting anthropological research in Tanzania, focusing on gender, power dynamics, and violence, particularly sexual violence and intimate partner violence (IPV). Her work intersects with epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Marburg virus, examining local experiences of biomedical research and epidemic responses. She leads anthropological research in major initiatives like the EBOVAC-Salone Trial and the ALERRT consortium, emphasizing community engagement in outbreak preparedness.

Her research interests include medical anthropology, gender-based violence, and the social dimensions of disease outbreaks. She teaches modules on Medical Anthropology of Public Health and Conflict and Health, and co-organizes the Pandemic Preparedness Short Course. Professor Lees has contributed to critical studies on vaccine deployment, regulatory practices during epidemics, and the impact of public health emergencies like Ebola and COVID-19 on marginalized groups.

Her work spans multiple countries including Tanzania, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, addressing topics such as microfinance interventions to reduce violence against women, childhood violence conceptualizations among Swahili communities, and the socio-political logics of vaccine distribution. She is a senior member of the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) and leads the Politics and Anthropology of Violence and Epidemics (PAVE) research group.