Director

Dr. Shedra Amy Snipes is an Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health at the Pennsylvania State University. She is recognized as a leading voice on the role of culture, environment and health behaviors in the United States population of migrant and seasonal immigrant farmworkers. Her honors include several media recognitions, as well as appointment to the National Advisory Council on Migrant Health (NACMH), which advises, consults, and makes recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerning the organization and operation of migrant health centers across the country.

Dr. Snipes has over 16 years of community engaged research experience, working alongside Mexican and Mexican-American farmworkers in her ethnographic work. On average, Dr. Snipes spends months at a time with farmworker families, observing and recording their behaviors, lived experiences, and health outcomes while at the same time “doing the work” of harvesting crops in the field. Dr. Snipes also works closely with non-farmworker groups including farm owners, advocates, and community organizations.

Her community-based research is built upon a foundation of sound methodology. Dr. Snipes integrates methods from ethnography, surveys, and mHealth to explore an expanded view of farmworkers’ health outcomes. To date, her work has explored pesticide safety behaviors, pesticide exposures, occupational injuries, access to care, and experiences with discrimination – all among Mexican and Mexican-American farmworkers.

Dr. Snipes earned her Ph.D. in Bio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington in 2007.  She is a former fellow of the s Kellogg Health Scholars Program at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute Education and Career Development Program at the University of Texas School of Public Health.