Prof Janet Seeley
Professor of Anthropology and Health
I am a social anthropologist by training. I have a PhD in that subject from the University of Cambridge. Before joining the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in April 2014 I was Professor of International Development at the University of East Anglia. I worked for the Department for International Development for 13 years, prior to moving to the University of East Anglia in 2000. I am interested in the social aspects of health, with particular interest in HIV, tuberculosis and non-communicable conditions. I have worked in a number of different countries over the last 40 years. I have been actively engaged in research on HIV since the late 1980s, including four years with Medical Research Council in Uganda 1989-1993 when I was responsible for setting up social science research in the Unit, the Programme I returned to Uganda to head in 2008 up until March 2022. I am now based in London.
Since 2014, I have been supporting social science and ethics research and researchers at the Africa Health Research Institute (formerly Africa Centre) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I am currently a member of faculty covering Social Science and Research Ethics.
December 2016-May 2019 I was a research director for STRIVE (http://strive.lshtm.ac.uk/).
I am currently the head of the Department of Global Health and Development.
Affiliations
Centres
Teaching
I am involved in distance learning teaching and supervision of summer projects with intensive students in public health.
Research
My research interests are in the social aspects of health. While much of my work over the past 40 years has focused on HIV, particularly looking at HIV across the life course and the impact of the epidemic on communities and people's lives and livelihoods, I have undertaken research on the social aspects of other infections, such as TB and, recently, SARS-CoV2 and the COVID-19 pandemic. I am also interested in the impact of chronic conditions, including non-communicable conditions, on lives and livelihoods, particularly among younger and older people. The social aspects of health within the context of mobility and migration are an important focus of my work (including work with fisherfolk around Lake Victoria and young people moving for education and work in South Africa).
Selected Publications
