Danya Glabau

Danya Glabau is a medical anthropologist and STS scholar researching patient activism, the medical economy, and how human bodies become valuable data. She earned her PhD from the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Cornell University.

Her book-in-progress is titled, Reproducing Safety: Food Allergy Advocacy and the Politics of Care. It examines how food allergy activists get involved in scientific research and political advocacy, and how race, class, and gender shape their advocacy goals. Following up on this research, she is tracking the evolving business models of digital health care companies.

She also develops speculative ethnographic perspectives and methods through research on virtual reality (VR) and collaborative interventions in anthropology, like the Wakanda University initiative launched at the American Anthropological Association in 2018.

She has been Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research since 2015. She has also consulted with biotechnology start-ups and conducted research on VR and online harassment with non-profit organizations.