Emily Mendenhall

@emendenhall.bsky.social

1.1K followers 630 following 110 posts

Anthropologist and Professor, Director of STIA, Editor-in-Chief of Science Politics, Author of Invisible Illness, Guggenheim Fellow

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Emily Mendenhall is a medical anthropologist and Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Her research considers syndemics, mental health, cultural idioms of distress, health politics and systems, migration and health, flourishing, and complex chronic conditions. She was awarded the George Foster Award for Practicing Medical Anthropology in 2017 from the Society for Medical Anthropology for her work on syndemics. In 2023, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in recognition of her anthropological work on COVID-19. .. more

Public Health 31%

Psychology 25%

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Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 10h

We ask in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social: how do we reimagine clinical care for the increasing number of people living with complex chronic conditions? "It’s not just money but also the culture of medicine that’s impeding people’s care." #longcovid

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/28/t...

The Current Culture of Medicine Is Failing People With Long COVID - Science Politics

Instead of switchboards, long COVID clinics can be incubators to reimagine medicine itself.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 2d

Take a look at @matthewkavanagh.bsky.social's essay that considers how global public investment is critical for future engagement, arguing, "A new vision for global health must move toward mechanisms that treat health as a truly global public good."

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/26/t...

The Rupture in Global Health Is a Warning - Science Politics

Explore how The Rupture in Global Health Is a Warning for future governance and support systems in health programs worldwide.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 2d

I don't think that's the project of the book at all. There is no one-size-fits-all solution b/c people's infections and bodies are different. Some people described to me how healing mind-body therapies were. Others have tried everything & have found no relief. Experiences differ widely.

Reposted by Emily Mendenhall

Elke Hausmann @drelke.bsky.social · 2d

#LongCovid
#ME

@emendenhall.bsky.social

emilymendenhall.substack.com/p/danger-in-...

It was in part because of this argument that I was also very interested in the useful critiques that some people really disagree with the thresholds theory. I generally find that when we engage in deep and respectful dialogue, we can learn from each other. I have learned that some patients feel the thresholds theory is
"pseudoscientific" and others view it as harmful. I find this an important point in part because science politics are at play here. In the critique I've read, the problem is that thinking about these health conditions as anything but having a biological cause and biological treatments may cause people to be dismissed in clinical spaces or prevent scientific discovery.
This viewpoint could not be more important. In fact, the ME/LC activist community has been able to drive measurable change through this rallying cry. It's important and in the second part of the book I discuss how remarkable this political movement is and why such collective power matters.

Reposted by Emily Mendenhall

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 3d

My tribue to Dr Bill Foege and the lessons we can learn from his inspiring life

Lessons From William H. Foege, A Global Health Legend

@forbes.com

www.forbes.com/sites/madhuk...

Lessons From William H. Foege, A Global Health Legend

Dr William H. Foege, a legend in global public health, passed away on 24 January 2026. His life and legacy offer several lessons for global public health

www.forbes.com

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. People are only stronger because of your open and collective dialogue.

Your argument underscores the main point of the book: it is urgent to view patients as knowledge partners in clinical settings and to center patients' expertise in their care.

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Elizabeth Pisani, Emily Mendenhall , and 8 more Rosemary A. Joyce, Elizabeth Pisani, Emily Mendenhall, Robert C. Richards, Alan Richardson, Miranda J. Lubbers, Anne Norton, Brooke Harrington, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Mary Heskel

Ana Marie Cox @anamariecox.bsky.social · 3d

The majority of organizing happening in Minnesota isn’t just peaceful, it’s INVISIBLE. Moms showing up who won’t be interviewed on TV, people whose ICE patrols don’t turn into viral video. The grocery runs, the donations, the people filming bc they happen to be there. Please remember this.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 3d

Jishnu Das argues in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social, "Rushing to action only risks entrenching one poorly functioning system of knowledge acquisition with another." It's okay to recognize that reimagining global action may take time.

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/25/s...

Sects, Money and Global Health - Science Politics

An open, honest discussion about how foreign aid can help countries develop systems of local health research and knowledge … and not inadvertently create an elite cabal.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 4d

Former USAID chief economist Steve Radelet writes in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social "Instead of building partnerships and alliances, the U.S. is now using its power to extract concessions, bully friends and enemies, and enrich itself at the expense of others."

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/24/t...

The End of USAID and the Decline in US Global Leadership - Science Politics

Thousands of people lost their jobs and millions may die. The US is weaker for it.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 4d

New interview up with @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social!

newbooksnetwork.com/invisible-il...

Emily Mendenhall, "Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID" (U California Press, 2026) - New Books Network

newbooksnetwork.com

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 5d

Check out @drtomfrieden.bsky.social's essay on the future of aid in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social. "In public health, fiscal choices are life-and-death decisions — funding cuts are the direct cause of preventable deaths."

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/23/t...

The End of the Donor-Driven Era - Science Politics

Progress requires three things: seeing clearly, believing progress is possible, and creating systems of true productive interdependence.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 5d

My take on the new vaccine schedule.

sfs.georgetown.edu/news/six-que...

Six questions about the new CDC vaccine schedule | School of Foreign Service | Georgetown

SFS Professor Emily Mendenhall answers questions about the recent, reduced CDC vaccination schedule.

sfs.georgetown.edu

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 6d

As we approach the USAID Stop Work Order anniversary, consider the future of global health risk investing in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social. "It’s a hankering to give private investors more opportunity to bet on whether basic human needs get met or not."

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/22/t...

The USAID Cuts Make Room for Wealthy Investors to Bet on Global Health - Science Politics

Speculative finance is supplanting conventional aid funding, enabling investors to determine the terms and conditions of new aid financing schemes.

sciencepolitics.org

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

Take a look at James Pfeiffer's take in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social: "American aid and most NGOs failed to strengthen, finance, or build meaningful capacity to help sustain desperately underfunded public sector health systems and institutions."

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/21/t...

The End of USAID Reveals the Folly of the NGO Global Health Model - Science Politics

For years, wealthy countries drove too much of the agenda. Now we have an opportunity to re-imagine foreign aid.

sciencepolitics.org

Reposted by Emily Mendenhall

Billy Hanlon @bhanlon15.bsky.social · 7d

Politics & Prose: 'Book Talk: Emily Mendenhall — Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID'

'Watch author Emily Mendenhall's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.'

'Inspired by her work with long COVID patients..'

www.youtube.com/live/5BAuMFi...

Book Talk: Emily Mendenhall — Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID

YouTube video by Politics and Prose

www.youtube.com

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

These arguments are directly from pubs from polybio

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

Thanks for highlighting this important point. I’d love to discuss you writing for @sciencepolitics.bsky.social about this. Your perspective and expertise are so important.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

I find their perspective to be so important. Yet, folks with severe ME have a very particular case that is completely disabling. I don’t disagree with their perspective at all. The book isn’t about severe ME though, so I’m not sure how to respond. The book is a history and critique of medicine

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

I completely agree we need more bio research. Th book is a critique of biomedicine—not of pwME—rather how medicine has harmed patients for a long time and is a call for action to take biological realities seriously.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 7d

I see why people are so concerned about thinking about health conditions under a big umbrella. My book is about a history of people (particularly women) being ignored, dismissed, and harmed by a medical system that does not work for them. I don't think integrative healing is the only way.

Reposted by Emily Mendenhall

Elke Hausmann @drelke.bsky.social · 7d

@emendenhall.bsky.social is at her very best when she gives us the social context and people’s experience of chronic illness, as she does in the first 13 minutes here - we can all get behind her rallying cry for change.

1/2

www.youtube.com/live/5BAuMFi...

Book Talk: Emily Mendenhall — Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long COVID

YouTube video by Politics and Prose

www.youtube.com

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

This is somewhat different but this whole experience is one reason I started @sciencepolitics.bsky.social —it’s totally free and open access (but we don’t have money to pay writers yet).

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

www.audible.com/es_US/pd/Inv...

Invisible Illness

Descubre y escucha este título en Audible.com. A moving cultural history of disability—and a powerful call to action to change how our medical system and society supports those with complex chronic co...

www.audible.com

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

I completely agree. That's why I tried to put this gaslighting in historical perspective & demonstrate that its a systemic problem. But it's not just ME: A LOT of health conditions get ignored and dismissed that resemble ME in certain ways. We can learn a lot from ME activists who amplify this.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

I thought your response was great. I tried to respond in my new blog post

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

Take a look at our first our many essays we are publishing this week in @sciencepolitics.bsky.social as we approach the one year anniversary of the USAID stop work order on January 24th.

sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/20/o...

One Year After the USAID Stop Work Order: A Midwife’s Perspective - Science Politics

My fear is that the public will forget the U.S. used to be seen as a nation that expressed care for others.

sciencepolitics.org

Reposted by Emily Mendenhall

Kerry Cullinan @kerrycullinan.bsky.social · 8d

It's been a year since #Trump took a 'Chainsaw' to #Global #Health. I've highlighted some of the human cost in my story, and a silver lining:
@friendsofusaid.bsky.social
@altusaid.altgov.info

healthpolicy-watch.news/the-human-co...

One Year Later: The Effect Of US 'Chainsaw' On Global Health - Health Policy Watch

One year ago today (20 January), the Trump administration exploded the global health sector by immediately “pausing” all aid for 90 days – and dispensing with

healthpolicy-watch.news

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 8d

Another colleague just emailed me and said she was also told by several publishers that they wouldn't publish a book on Long Covid. I was pretty frustrated by that, which is why I published so many people's stories on my blog.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 9d

Thank you so much. At the moment, I'm not going to do more work on this. However, I'm happy to share more with others who know the history better than me (e.g., @davetuller1.bsky.social) and want to know more about this story.

Emily Mendenhall @emendenhall.bsky.social · 9d

I deleted portions that called him out by name due to threat of a lawsuit.

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