Mary Beth Knipper (she/her) is a medical anthropologist and MD/PhD candidate in Cultural Anthropology, currently pursuing dual degrees in the Department of Anthropology and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Mary Beth’s research examines perinatal care practices amongst bo-Mme mothers in the eastern highlands of Lesotho. Her work broadly examines exposure as a form of care in Basotho communities, tracing the evolution of such bodily engagements and categories of thought in relation to local histories of epidemics, global health interventions, environmental transformations, and social relations.
Mary Beth holds an MSc in Medical Anthropology from the University of Oxford (2011). Prior to joining the Rutgers-Princeton MD/PhD Program in 2016, Mary Beth worked in Lesotho in the international development sector (2012-2014) and as an ethnographic researcher (2015-2016). Following the completion of her degrees, Mary Beth intends to pursue a clinical residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology, followed by a career in medical education and clinical practice in Lesotho.