Taryn McGinn Valley

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

I am interested in sexual and reproductive health in Latin America and the US, particularly studying family building and decision-making in Indigenous Guatemala, within and between communities and healthcare systems. I use ethnographic methods, including participant observation and qualitative interviewing. I incorporate queer theory, analysis of structural violence, and reproductive governance frameworks in my work. In Guatemala, I work with an international, interdisciplinary team, including community health workers alongside scholars and clinicians from UW’s School of Medicine and Public Health, creating community-based collaborative interventions for cervical cancer screening and hypertension treatment. In the US, I work with the UW CORE Lab to understand the impacts of legislation on women’s abortion care access. As an MD/PhD student, after my doctoral studies, I will return to medical school and pursue residency in Family Medicine.