About Dr. Niehuus
Dr. Rachel Niehuus is a surgical critical care fellow and a medical anthropologist. Prior to Penn, she was at UCSF, where she completed an MD-PhD in anthropology, and then Emory University, where she completed general surgical residency. Her clinical interests lie in emergency general surgery and taking care of the critically ill. Her research centers the question of care, is ethnographic in nature, and has included individual projects as well as internationally-funded, team-based, mixed-methods projects. Her first book, entitled An Archive of Possibilities: Healing and Repair in Democratic Republic of Congo will be published by Duke University Press in early 2024. In addition to clinical work and research, Rachel is passionate about teaching and envisions continued teaching appointments within anthropology and surgery. On the weekends, Rachel enjoys getting outside with her queer family and learning about the nonhuman world.
Education
2016 - 2023
Resident Physician
General Surgery Department of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine
2016
MD - University of California, San Francisco
AOA Honor Society Inductee
2014
Doctorate of Philosophy in Medical Anthropology
University of California, San Francisco-University of California, Berkeley
2007
Bachelor's of Science in Chemistry with a concentration in French
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Awards
2019
Fellowship, Program in Global Surgery and Social Change
Harvard Medical School
2016
UCSF’s Nominee: CGS Distinguished Dissertation Award
2011 - 2014
Graduate Division Fellowship, UCSF
2013 - 2014
Andrew V. White and Florence W. White Dissertation Fellowship,
2011 - 2012
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship
Swahili, UC Berkeley,
2010, 2012
Andrew and Mary Thompson Rocca Dissertation Scholarship, UC Berkeley
Research
2023 - present
Principal Investigator (Philadelphia, PA) Designed a protocol for implementation of ICU journals in the treatment of delirium in post-traumatic ICU patients; conducting a qualitative and ethnographic study investigating the relationship between delirium, PTSD, and the development of post-ICU Care Syndrome (PICS) in post-surgical and post-traumatic ICU patients.
2019 - 2020
Principal Investigator (North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo) As the leader of a 12-person research team, developed and conducted a mixed methods study, which used ethnographic research, a 4000-household survey, and retrospective chart review to examine the effect of the Ebola epidemic and the international Response on primary health. Presented our findings to the WHO, MSF, the EU, and the Congolese government; the work has also been published in the Journal of Global Health Reports, and as a qualitative policy paper with Congo Research Group.
2012 - 2013
Co-Principal Investigator (North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo) Long-term ethnographic research in a rural, war-affected region of eastern Congo on the ways in which the quotidian experiences of hunger, poverty, and violence create new possibilities of repair. This research has been presented at local, national, and international conferences; it is also the basis of the book, An Archive of Possibilities: Healing and Repair in DRC, published by Duke University Press.
2014
Co-Principal Investigator (Nyarugusu Camp, Tanzania) In collaboration with IRC, developed and conducted an anthropological study of the structural effects of war and encampment on gender-based violence in a Congolese refugee camp. Results of this study were presented to local, national, and international stakeholders and published by International Rescue Commission in abridged form.
2010 - 2011
Co-Principal Investigator (North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo Project) Conducted qualitative and quantitative research in vesicovaginal fistula repair clinics in eastern Congo, examining the health structures that arose around women with fistulae. This research has been presented at several conferences and informed the subsequent dissertation/book project.
Publications
- Rachel Niehuus. 2024. An Archive of Possibilities: Healing and Repair in Democratic Republic of Congo. Duke University Press, Critical Global Health series.
- John Quattrochi, Luc Kalisya Malemo, and Rachel Niehuus. 2023. Impact of the 2018-2020 Democratic Republic of Congo Ebola epidemic on health system utilization and health outcomes. Journal of Global Health Reports, vol 7.
- Rachel Niehuus. 2021. “Les communautés voient beaucoup plus loin que la Riposte.” Blog series. https://suluhu.org/2021/10/19/the-peoplesee-farther-than-the-riposte/ Ebola in the DRC: the Perverse Effects of a Parallel Health System. 2020. New York: Congo Research Group. (This is a single-author, peer-reviewed publication published anonymously for security purposes.)
- Rachel Niehuus and Jason Stearns. 2020. “COVID-19: What can the United States learn from the Democratic Republic of Congo.” MAQ Online. https://medanthroquarterly.org/rapid-response/2020/04/covid-19-what-can-the-united-states-learn-from-the/
- Julie Norman and Rachel Niehuus. 2015. “18 Years Displaced: An Anthropological Study of Protection Concerns Facing Congolese Refugees in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp, Tanzania." Tanzania: International Refugee Commission.
- Rachel Niehuus. 2014. “We live in war”: An Ambivalent Everyday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. PhD dissertation, UCSF. San Francisco: Proquest/UMI. (Publication No. AAT 3642682)
- Rachel Niehuus and Carolyn Sufrin. 2012. “Women's Empowerment in Critical Focus: Healthy Reproducers, Political Agents, and Market Participants.” Western Humanities Review 66(3).