BUSPH Alum Wins MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award.

Julie Livingston, a medical historian who is a1993 graduate of the BU School of Public Health, has been named a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, in recognition of her innovative work in exploring the care and treatment of people suffering from chronic illnesses and debilitating ailments in Botswana.

Julie LivingstonLivingston, a professor of history at Rutgers University, is a historian and author trained in public health and anthropology. In her most recent book, Improvising Medicine: An African Oncology Ward in an Emerging Cancer Epidemic (Duke University Press, 2012), she describes the struggles of patients, families and hospital staff in a cancer ward in Botswana to come to terms with the disease and its moral implications, in an environment of limited resources.

“We in the global North look at Africa and, where health care is concerned, we say, ‘We will go there and help them,'” Livingston told Rutgers Today. “But if we look closely at a place like Botswana, we might learn something about cost, equity of care, death and existential angst. I want to break up the idea that Africa is so different and only an object of our pity or our salvation complex. I just don’t see it that way.”

While her in-depth examination of medical treatment in Africa continues to challenge conventional notions about the crisis of care, Livingston is turning her attention to the topic of suicide in New York City, in hopes of providing new insights for public health.

Livingston is one of 24 recipients of the so-called “genius grant,” a five-year fellowship that comes with a $625,000 unrestricted stipend. The MacArthur Foundation awards fellowships to talented individuals in a variety of fields who have shown exceptional originality in, and dedication to, their creative pursuits.

“This year’s class of MacArthur Fellows is an extraordinary group of individuals who collectively reflect the breadth and depth of American creativity,” said Cecilia Conrad, Vice President of MacArthur Fellows Program. “They are . . . working to improve the human condition and to preserve and sustain our natural and cultural heritage. Their stories should inspire each of us to consider our own potential to contribute our talents for the betterment of humankind.”

To learn more about Livingston: http://www.macfound.org/fellows/895/