Heather Wurtz, PhD (she/her) is an Affiliated Researcher with the University of Connecticut. She earned her PhD in Sociomedical Sciences/Anthropology at Columbia University. Her research draws primarily on qualitative and ethnographic methods to examine gendered and health inequities among im/migrant communities in the US and Mexico, with particular emphasis on barriers to sexual and reproductive health care access. Dr. Wurtz has published widely in a range of academic journals, including Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Journal of Marriage and Family, and Health Equity. In addition to academic scholarship, Dr. Wurtz has worked as an independent research consultant in studies for advancing global health equity with organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Media coverage:

Goleen, S., Wurtz, H.M.., Rameau, S., Park, A. Mukherjee, T., Damle, M. (2021) Accessing SRH Care During COVID-19: Experiences of Xenophobia and Racism.

Wurtz, H.M., Park, A., Rameau, S., Mukherjee, T., Damle, M., Goleen, S., (2021) Primary Challenges of Latinx Immigrant Women During COVID-19.

Wurtz, H. (2017). Border Matters: Gender, Precarity, and the Body on Mexico’s “Forgotten Frontier”. Research Snapshots, Social Science Research Council website, May 23, 2017. http://researchmatters.ssrc.org/

Recent publications:

Wurtz, H.M., Abularrage, T.F., McSorely, A., Rameau, S., Samari, G. (2024) “We’ve reimagined the way we serve”: Strategies of community-based organizations in New York City to support immigrant women during and after COVID-19. Health Equity, 7(1): 96-104. DOI: 10.1089/heq.2023.0178

Samari, G., Wurtz, H.M., Desia, S., Coleman-Minahan, K. (2024) Perspectives from the Pandemic Epicenter: Sexual and Reproductive Health of Immigrants. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. DOI: 10.1111/psrh.12260

Wurtz, H.M. (2022) Mobility Imaginaries of Humanitarian Intervention: Gender, Migration, and Violence along Mexico’s Southern Border. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. DOI: 10.1111/maq.12716

Engaged scholarship:

Human Rights Observer in the migrant caravan movement: 2017, 2018

To reach Brenna, email heather.wurtz@uconn.edu.

You can also find her at her website.