Mara Buchbinder, PhD, has been named chair of the department of social medicine. Dr. Buchbinder, who currently serves as the department’s vice chair, will assume the role on Feb. 1, 2025.
In addition to her role, Dr. Buchbinder is professor of social medicine and adjunct professor of anthropology at UNC, as well as a core faculty member in the UNC Center for Bioethics.
A medical anthropologist with broad interests in cultures of health, illness, and medicine in the United States, her recent work focuses on how patients, families, and healthcare providers navigate social and ethical challenges resulting from changes in medical technology, law, and health policy.
Dr. Buchbinder is currently the co-principal investigator of CORE-ICU: Clinical and Organizational Resilience in the ICU, an NHLBI R01 study that will investigate how organizational factors contribute to burnout in ICU clinicians and adverse outcomes in patients with acute respiratory failure. She is also the co-principal investigator of a NIOSH R01 study that investigates mental health and work-related wellbeing among obstetrician-gynecologists in a shifting policy environment.
She will assume the role from Jonathan Oberlander, PhD, who announced last fall he was stepping down as chair at the end of his second five-year term as chair.
Congratulations to Dr. Buchbinder on her new role and thank you to Dr. Oberlander for his years leading the department.