Justeen Hyde is a cultural and medical anthropologist with a broad range of interests in research and evaluation topics and methodologies. Most of her anthropological work has focused on youth populations in the United States and the cultural politics of risk that shape their pathways into and out of social institutions. Her previous research has focused on understanding factors that underlie movements from home to street among homeless young people in Los Angeles. This early research led to additional interests and work in the areas of substance use and abuse, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and the legal and social service interventions developed to curb these social issues.

Her current research builds on this previous work by focusing on adolescents in foster care. With support from NICHD, she is currently the PI on a formative qualitative study with adolescents and child welfare professionals involved with the Massachusetts Department of Social Services.

In addition to these qualitative research projects, Dr. Hyde is also involved in a number of community-based research and evaluation studies. The focus of this research is on public health care systems and infrastructure at local and state levels. Her evaluation approach makes use of both qualitative and quantitative methods and involves stakeholders as integral, active partners in the evaluation process.

Dr. Hyde received her doctoral degree in Anthropology from the University of California at Irvine. She is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Community Health in Cambridge, MA and a lecturer at the Harvard Medical School.

Return to About Us: Staff