Rate My Professor Lori Jervis

Lori L. Jervis is a Professor of Medical, Sociocultural Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma, a position she has held since 2017, following her promotion from Associate Professor (2008-2017). She serves as Co-Director of the Center for Applied Social Research, with adjunct appointments in Native American Studies since 2009 and in the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the OU Health Sciences Center since 2015. Additionally, she is an Associate Member of the Peggy and Charles Stephenson Cancer Center's Cancer Health Disparities Research Program since 2017. Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma, Jervis worked at the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center in the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs within the Department of Psychiatry, progressing from Instructor (1999-2001) to Assistant Professor (2001-2008). She earned her Ph.D. in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Minnesota in 1998, an M.A. in sociocultural anthropology with a minor in feminist studies from the same institution during 1990-1998, and a B.A. in sociocultural anthropology with a minor in theatre arts in 1990. Jervis is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America since 2017 and a Scholar of the Advanced Research Institute in Geriatric Mental Health at Weill Medical College of Cornell University (2005-2006). She has chaired the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate and served on committees including the Institutional Review Board, Faculty Welfare Committee, and Tenure & Promotion Review Committee.

A medical anthropologist, gerontologist, and anthrozoologist, Jervis conducts community-engaged research at the intersection of culture, health, and rurality, with over 20 years of collaboration with tribal communities on cognitive and psychiatric disorders, elder mistreatment, and end-of-life care. Her interests encompass medical anthropology, psychiatric anthropology, applied anthropology, aging/gerontology, rural health, violence and trauma, anthrozoology, and Native North America. Recent projects examine food environments in rural tribal communities, vaccine hesitancy in Oklahoma, and human-canine relationships including free-roaming dogs and companion animal rescue networks. Key publications include "Food environments and gut microbiome health: Availability of healthy foods, alcohol, and tobacco in a rural Oklahoma tribal community" (Discover Food, 2022, with Bray et al.); "Collective health behavior and face mask utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma" (Journal of Public Health, 2022, with Bray et al.); "Resisting extinction: Purple Martins, death, and the future" (Conservation & Society, 2019); "Protectors, aggressors, and kinfolk: Dogs in a tribal community" (Anthrozoos, 2018); "The conceptualization of mistreatment by older American Indians" (Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 2017); "Elder mistreatment in underserved populations: Opportunities and challenges to developing a contemporary program of research" (Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect, 2016); and "An imperfect refuge: Life in an 'old folk's home' for younger residents with psychiatric disorders" (Social Science & Medicine, 2002).