Expertise Areas: Socio/cultural Anthropology, Veterans Affairs Healthcare System, Identity, Immigrant Experience, Religious Ideology, Gender.
Lauren is a socio/cultural Anthropologist who is interested in understanding patient and provider experiences within the Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare system. They conduct research on the impact of rurality and healthcare access, limb loss, Whole Health programming to manage chronic pain, and geriatric surgical decision making with patient centered care approaches. “By conducting rigorous, qualitative research, it is my hope to inform and improve healthcare processes that impact veterans and caregivers." Lauren's graduate studies focused on ethnographic fieldwork in Bergen, Norway to explore how narratives of national identity are influenced by religious participation amongst Muslim immigrants and Pentecostal immigrants. Lauren's research focuses on areas of identity and the immigrant experience, religious ideology, and gender.