Anthropology and Medicine from the Bottom Up | Eric Reinhart, MD

We are joined in this episode by Eric Reinhart, MD, an anthropologist, psychoanalyst, and psychiatry resident at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. While Dr. Reinhart is the first resident-in-training we've had on this program, his path has been far from straightforward. Prior to residency, Dr. Reinhart conducted ethnographic work in Chicago's South Side, India, South Africa, and migrant communities in Southern Europe. Through this research, he addresses the multifaceted effects of poverty and social inequities on community health. In this conversation, we discuss how he applies his anthropology training to create culturally sensitive systemic changes and how healthcare providers can play a more active role in engaging with their communities.

In this episode, you will hear about:

How having a deaf brother led Dr. Reinhart to medicine - 1:54
Dr. Reinhart’s observations of the disconnect between the ideals he heard in medical school and the reality of how profit-driven hospitals operate - 5:59
Why Dr. Reinhart pursued a study in anthropology to learn how to address contemporary social ills - 12:46
How a case study of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Russian prisons informed Dr. Reinhart’s evaluation of pandemics - 19:37
What drew Dr. Reinhart to psychoanalysis and psychiatry, and how he applies them to his field studies - 26:41
A discussion of the power structures inherent to medico-social field work and how to properly determine what a community needs - 32:04
Advice on how doctors and medical trainees can become empowered to help change the systems they work in - 41:21
How Dr. Reinhart hopes to apply his experiences to improve community-based care - 48:42

You can follow Dr. Eric Reinhart on Twitter @_Eric_Reinhart.

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