User:GrandStaircase22/sandbox/Eugene T. Richardson

Eugene Thomas Richardson (born November 15, 1976) is an American physician-anthropologist whose work focuses on biosocial approaches to epidemic disease and climate change. He is known for his book, Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health as well as academic papers on the social determinants of health inequalities. He is a professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an infectious disease consultant at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Personal Life and Education

Richardson was born in Belleville, NJ and was raised in Florida. He attended Olympic Heights Community High School in Boca Raton, FL, where he was valedictorian. He graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. He received his MD in 2009 from Cornell University Medical College, earning honors in research, and went on to complete an internal medicine residency (2011) and infectious disease fellowship (2015) at Stanford University Medical Center. At Stanford, Richardson also earned a PhD in anthropology in 2017.

Richardson is a protégé of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, renowned humanitarian and professor of global health.

Scholarship

Richardson has established himself as a national and international leader in clinical interventions and research on epidemic disease, with a special focus on Ebola and COVID-19 in West Africa. His work argues that public health practices—from epidemiological modeling and outbreak containment to Big Data and causal inference—play an essential role in perpetuating a range of global inequities. Drawing on postcolonial theory, medical anthropology, and critical sciences studies, his work on the coloniality of global health has challenged classic aid/development models, particularly those rooted in neoliberalism and racial capitalism.

As part of his work linking colonialism to contemporary forms of public health, he has taken up leadership in developing counter-hegemonic, equitable forms of medical training, research, and care. As part of these efforts, he serves as co-chair of the Walter & Patricia Rodney Commission on Reparations, the Global Environmental Change Commission on Climate Justice, and the Radcliffe-BMJ Commission on Epistemic Injustice.

Advocacy

Richardson previously served as the clinical lead for Partners In Health's Ebola response in Kono District, Sierra Leone, where he continues to conduct research on the social epidemiology of Ebola virus disease and COVID-19. He also worked as a clinical case management consultant for the World Health Organization's Ebola response in Beni, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2020, he was seconded to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to join their COVID-19 response. In addition, Richardson has volunteered for Médecins Sans Frontières, the World Bank, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation.

Notable Publications

• Richardson ET, Morrow CD, Kalil DB, Ginsberg S, Bekker L-G, Wood R. Shared air: A renewed focus on ventilation for the prevention of tuberculosis transmission. PLoS One 2014;9(5):e96334. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096334.
• Richardson ET, Collins SE, Kung T, Jones JH, Tram KH, Boggiano VL, Bekker L-G, Zolopa AR. Gender inequality and HIV transmission: A global analysis. Journal of the International AIDS Society 2014;17:19035. doi: 10.7448/IAS.17.1.19035.
• Richardson ET, Barrie MB, Kelly JD, Dibba Y, Koedoyoma S, Farmer PE. Biosocial Approaches to the 2013-16 Ebola Pandemic. Health and Human Rights 2016;18(1):115-128.
• Richardson ET, Morrow CD, Ho T, Fürst N, Cohelia R, Tram K-H, Farmer PE, Wood R. Forced removals embodied as tuberculosis. Social Science and Medicine 2016;161:13-18. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.05.015.
• Richardson ET, Kelly JD, Barrie MB, Mesman AW, Karku S, Quiwa K, Marsh RH, Koedoyoma S, Daboh F, Barron KP, Grady M, Tucker E, Dierberg KL, Rutherford GW, Barry M, Jones JH, Murray MB, Farmer PE. Minimally symptomatic infection in an Ebola ‘hotspot’: A cross-sectional serosurvey. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 2016;10(11): e0005087. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005087.
• Richardson ET, Barrie MB, Nutt CT, Kelly JD, Frankfurter R, Fallah MP, Farmer PE. The Ebola suspect’s dilemma. The Lancet Global Health 2017;5(3):e254-e256. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30041-4.
• Richardson ET, Kelly JD, Sesay O, Drasher MD, Desai IK, Frankfurter R, Farmer PE, Barrie MB. The Symbolic Violence of ‘Outbreak’: A Mixed Methods, Quasi-Experimental Impact Evaluation of Social Protection on Ebola Survivor Wellbeing. Social Science and Medicine 2017;195:77-82. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.018.
• Kelly JD, Barrie MB, Mesman AW, Karku S, Quiwa K, Drasher M, Slough GW, Dierberg K, Koedoyoma S, Tucker E, Lindan CP, Jones JH, Chamie G, Worden L, Greenhouse B, Weiser SD, Porco TC, Rutherford GW, Richardson ET. Anatomy of a hotspot: chain and seroepidemiology of Ebola virus transmission, Sukudu, Sierra Leone, 2015-16. The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2018;217(8):1214-1221. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy004.
• Frankfurter RG, Kardas-Nelson M, Benton A, Barrie MB, Dibba Y, Farmer PE, Richardson ET. Indirect Rule Redux: The Political Economy of Diamond Mining and its Relation to the Ebola Outbreak in Kono District, Sierra Leone. Review of African Political Economy 2018;45(158):522-540. doi: 10.1080/03056244.2018.1547188.
• Richardson ET & Fallah MP. The Genesis of the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 2019;19(4):348-349. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(19)30055-6.
• Richardson ET, McGinnis T, Frankfurter R. Ebola and the Narrative of Mistrust. BMJ Global Health 2019;4(6):e001932. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2019-001932.
• Richardson ET. Pandemicity, COVID-19 and the limits of public health ‘science.’ BMJ Global Health 2020;5(4):e002571. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002571.
• Choi B, Choudhary MC, Regan J, Sparks JA, Padera RF, Qiu X, Solomon IH, MD, PhD 5; Kuo H-H, Boucau J, Adhikari UD, Winkler ML, Mueller AA, Hsu TY-T, Desjardins M, Baden LR, Chan BT, Walker BD, Lichterfeld M, Brigl M,Kwon DS, Kanjilal S, Richardson ET, Jonsson AH, Barczak AK, Hanage WP, Yu XG, Gaiha GD, Seaman MS, Cernadas M, Li JZ. SARS-CoV-2 persistence and evolution in an immunocompromised host. New England Journal of Medicine 2020;383(23):2291-2293. doi: 10.1056/NEJMc2031364.
• Richardson ET, Malik MM, Darity Jr. WA, Mullen AK, Morse ME, Malik M, Maybank A, Bassett MT, Farmer PE, Worden L, Jones JH. Reparations for Black American Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the U.S. and Their Estimated Impact on SARS-CoV-2 Transmission. Social Science and Medicine 2021;276:113741. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113741.
• Harman S, Erfani P, Goronga T, Hickel J, Morse M, Richardson ET. Global Vaccine Equity Demands Reparative Justice—Not Charity. BMJ Global Health 2021;6(6):e006504. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006504.
• Barrie MB, Lakoh S, Kelly JD, Kanu JS, Squire JS, Koroma Z, Bah S, Sankoh O, Brima A, Ansumana R, Goldberg, Chitre S, Osuagwu C, Maeda J, Barekye B, Numbere T-W, Abdulaziz M, Mounts A, Blanton C, Singh T, Samai M, Vandi MA, Richardson ET. SARS-CoV-2 antibody prevalence in Sierra Leone, March 2021: a cross-sectional, nationally representative, age-stratified serosurvey. BMJ Global Health 2021;6(11):e007271. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007271.
• Richardson ET. Epidemic Illusions: On the Coloniality of Global Public Health. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2020.
• Richardson ET, Burkett MA, Farmer PE. Chapter 475: Health Effects of Climate Change. In Kasper DL, Fauci AS, Hauser SL, Longo DL, Jameson JL, Loscalzo J [eds.] Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, 21st Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 2022.
• Richardson ET. COVID-19 and the Path Forward. In Darity Jr. WA, Wright GL, and Hubbard L [eds.] The Pandemic Divide: How COVID Increased Inequality in America. Durham: Duke University Press, 2022.

External links

• Harvard Catalyst Profile