Rebecca Crocker is an Assistant Research Professor in the University of Arizona College of Public Health, where she uses her background as a medical anthropologist to take a community-centered approach to investigating the intersection of migration and health. As part of diverse and multi-disciplinary teams of scientists, she brings an ethnographic and contextual lens to deepen our understanding of the heavy burden of chronic disease and related complications affecting Mexican origin communities in the US Southwest, community levels sources of stress and resilience, the emotional experience of migration, traditional healing modalities, and binational barriers to medical care access. Her work has been widely published in academic journals of anthropology, public health, and ethnohistory, cited in the Washington Post, and used to craft applied reports designed to meet the needs of local service organizations and Tucson city efforts. 

Research Interests

Her primary areas of research focus on the intersection of displacement and health and include lived experiences of migration and related suffering; sources of ecologic stress; traditional healing practices and Indigenous health knowledge; binational barriers to health care; and health experiences related to complications from diabetes and liver disease.

Education

1994                B.A. History, Honors in Latin American Studies, Stanford University.

1999                M.A. Latin American Studies, Stanford University.

2016                Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Arizona. 

Selected Publications

2024  LeBaron von Baeyer, S., Crocker, R. M., Rakotoarivony, R., Ranaivoarisoa, J. F., Spiral, G. J., Pascart, T., Wheeler, V., Mairai, T., Gregersen, N. O., Castel, S. E., Yerges-Armstrong, L. M., Fox, K., & Wasik, K. A. (2024). Nothing about us without us: Sharing results with communities that provide genomic data. Cell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.023

2024  Crocker, R.M., Duenas, K. R., Castro, I., Ingram, M., Torres, E., & Carvajal, S. C. (2024). Knowledge of the Stress–Health Link as a Source of Resilience Among Mexicans in the Arizona Borderlands. Qualitative Health Research, 10497323241251776. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323241251776

2024  Crocker, R.M, Martínez, D. E., Maldonado, A., & Garcia, D. O. The maintenance of Mexican traditional medicine practices among Mexicans in southern Arizona. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 351, 116982.

2023  Ingram, M., Duenas, K. R., Castro, I., Vazquez, L., Crocker, R. M., Larson, E. K., de Zapien, J. G., et al. The Use of Qualitative Methods to Guide the Development of the Border Resilience Scale in a Participatory Research Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(9), 5703. MDPI AG.

2022  Crocker, R.M., Morrill, K., Villavicencio, E.A, , and Garcia, D.O "How Mexicans’ Emotional Responses to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Can Help Inform Culturally Congruent Health Care". Journal of Transcultural Nursing. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 10436596221101923–10436596221101923. https://doi.org/10.1177/10436596221101923

2022  Crocker, R.M., Tan, W.T., Palmer, K.N.B, Marrero, D.G. The Patient’s Perspective of Diabetic Foot Ulceration: A Phenomenological Exploration of Causes, Detection, and Care-Seeking. Journal of Advanced Nursing.

2021  Crocker, R.M., Palmer, Kelly N.B, Marrero, David G, & Tan, Tze-Woei. Patient perspectives on the physical, psycho-social, and financial impacts of diabetic foot ulceration and amputation. Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications, 35(8), 107960–107960. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2021.107960.

2021  Crocker, R.M., "Binational Barriers to Medical Care and Their Impact on Care Seeking Practices of Mexican Immigrants". Qualitative Health Research, 31(6), 1043–1055. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732321992041

2021  Crocker, R.M., Reineke, R., and Ramos Tovar, M.E. Ambiguous Loss and Embodied Grief Related to Mexican Migrant Disappearances. Medical Anthropology, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2020.1860962

2015  Crocker, R.M. Emotional Testimonies: An Ethnographic Study of Emotional Suffering Related to Migration from Mexico to Arizona.” Frontiers in Public Health, 3, 177–177. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2015.00177

Research Areas

Border Health
Disease Prevention
Health Disparities
Health Promotion
Hispanic Health

Languages Spoken: English, Spanish