About me
Jen has a PhD in applied anthropology from Teachers College, Columbia University. She has worked for the VA in Iowa City since January of 2017, and recently accepted a position as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. Prior to moving to Iowa, Jen conducted ethnographically-based research into humanistic forms of treatment for mental illness. Her dissertation work centered on equine-assisted psychotherapy and her post-graduate experience was dominated by her participation in a process evaluation of Parachute NYC, an alternative approach to working with individuals experiencing a psychiatric crisis. As an ethnographer with the VA in CADRE, Jen’s job is to bring qualitative expertise to research design, data collection, and data analysis. Qualitative expertise includes using specialized interviewing techniques, engaging in participant observation, taking fieldnotes, and then developing analyses that reflect and communicate the diversity of experiences and worlds that we documented throughout data collection. Jen currently works on projects that use ethnographic methods in informatics and mental health services research.
