Katharina Rynkiewich, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters
Anthropology
Boca Raton Campus | SO 176
Assistant Professor & Director of Graduate Studies
Faculty Affiliate, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Faculty Fellow, Center for Body, Mind, and Culture
Education:
PhD, Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, 2020
MA, Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, 2016
MA, Social Sciences, The University of Chicago, 2013
BA, Anthropology, University of Missouri – St. Louis, 2012, Summa Cum Laude with Honors in Anthropology
Courses Taught at Florida Atlantic:
ANT 4302 Gender & Culture
ANT 4495 Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology
ANT 4464 Global Health & Culture
ANT 4532 Epidemics: Culture, Science, and Policy
ANG 6905 Proposal Development and Writing
Research Interests:
Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Infectious Diseases, Social and Environmental Aspects of Antimicrobial Resistance, Hospital and Healthcare Ethnography
My research centers on the social, cultural, and environmental dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in the United States. Since 2013, I have conducted extensive ethnographic research among medical professionals in North American settings ranging from academic medical centers to skilled nursing facilities.
My most recent research has been funded by the College of Arts & Letters at Florida Atlantic University and the National Science Foundation. This work focuses on regional networks of medical care that include the outpatient prescription and use of antibiotic medicines as well as regional infection control and epidemiology in light of ongoing ecological instability in the South Florida area.
Grant Funding:
Co-Principal Investigator. Build and Broaden Grant, Rhizomatic Nexus: Cultural Dimensions of Ecological Instability. National Science Foundation. $650,000.
Co-Investigator. Prevention Epicenters Grant, An Ethnographic Approach to Interrogating Antimicrobial Stewardship: Practices and Challenges in Hospital Infection Management and Understanding Healthcare Worker Perceptions of Infection and Infection Control in Skilled Nursing Facilities. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. $9,450,000.
Principal Investigator. Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, The Perils of Resistance: Antibiotic Stewards and Biosecuritization in North American Hospitals. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. $17,990.
Selected Publications:
Refereed Journal Articles
Rynkiewich, Katharina, Sarin Gole, Sarah Won, and David N. Schwartz. 2023. “Cultures of antibiotic prescribing in medical intensive care.” Social Science & Medicine 324: 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115834
Rynkiewich, Katharina, Kruthika Uttla, Leila Hojat. 2022. “Instant Gratification and Overtreating to Be Safe: Perceptions of U.S. Intensive Care Unit Pharmacists and Residents on Antimicrobial Stewardship.” Antibiotics. 11: 1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11091224
Rynkiewich, Katharina. 2022. “Antimicrobial Prescribing Matters: The Irreconcilability in Moral Ranking Systems.” Anthropology & Medicine. 1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13648470.2021.1994331
Rynkiewich, Katharina, et al. 2021. “Healthcare Personnel Experiences Implementing Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacterales Infection Control Measures at a Ventilator-capable Skilled Nursing Facility – A Qualitative Analysis.” Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2021.265
Rynkiewich, Katharina. 2021. “Everyday Infection, Looming Threat: Hospital-based Infection Control in the United States.” Somatosphere Special Issue: The Hospital Multiple, http://somatosphere.net/2021/hospital-infection-control-medical-anthropology.html/
Selected Media and Audio
“Collaborative Research on the Cultural Dimensions of Ecological Instability.” From Arts and Letters In Conversation with Dean Michael Horswell. October 30, 2024. Season 7, Episode 2. Available at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/471520/episodes/16020929
“Antibiotics Are Overused in the Health Care System” From Faculty Spotlight: Katharina Rynkiewich, PhD. Research Daily at Florida Atlantic University. By Bethany Augliere. November 16, 2023. Available at:
Faculty Spotlight: Katharina Rynkiewich, Ph.D.
“Students Tackle Anthropology of COVID-19.” From Washington University’s The Source. By Talia Ogliore. May 5, 2020. Available at: https://source.washu.edu/2020/05/students-tackle-anthropology-of-covid-19/