Mark Padilla

Associate Professor at Florida International University

Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies
School of International and Public Affairs

Background

Dr. Padilla received his PhD in Anthropology and Master of Public Health from Emory University. Advised by Dr. Peter Brown, Dr. Padilla successfully defended his dissertation titled  “Looking for Life: Male Sex Work, HIV/AIDS, and the Political Economy of Tourism in the Dominican Republic.” in 2003. He later published this dissertation work into a book in 2007 titled Caribbean Pleasure Industry: Tourism, Sexuality, and AIDS in the Dominican Republic.

Dr. Padilla’s research has been funded through the NIH since 2006. His work has also been funded through the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Funded projects include “Detroit Youth Passages”, in which he served as Principal Investigator. Other recent projects can be found listed below.

He is currently working on an NIH funded study on migration, tourism, and the HIV/drug syndemic in the Dominican Republic that utilizes ethnography and surveying to analyze the social and structural factors contributing to congregated HIV and drug-use vulnerabilities in tourism zones. The study is in collaboration with colleagues at the Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo. It is the first large NIH-funded interdisciplinary research project aimed at examining the risk factors for HIV and drug abuse associated with the tourism industry. The study aims to establish a pilot intervention that supports the health and well-being of Dominicans who work in the tourism industry.

Research Interests & Teaching

Dr. Padilla has currently shifted his research focus to issues of climate change, disasters, and the healthcare system, specifically in Puerto Rico. He has incorporated visual methods into his research. He has been an associate producer for recent projects which can be viewed at:

www.collapsepr.com “Collapse” (documentary film)

https://www.greetingscovidians.net/ “Greetings Covidians” PhotoVoice project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4BdtsNVsp4 “Particular Friendships” (documentary film).

As an educator, Dr. Padilla mentors students on medical anthropology, gender and sexuality studies, ethnographic and mixed-method research, visual methods, and global health.  Dr. Padilla collaborates with multiple student researchers who have also published with him throughout the years.

Areas of Expertise

• Critical Medical Anthropology
• Global Health
• Latin America
• Caribbean
• Dominican Republic
• Tourism Studies
• Gender/Sexuality Studies
• HIV/AIDS Research and Prevention
• Mixed Methods Research on Health Inequities

EDUCATION

• BA – University of New Mexico – 1994
• MPH – Emory University – 1998
• PhD – Emory University – 2003

PUBLICATIONS & Projects

• 2020-2024 (ongoing): “Physician Migration and Its Effects on Puerto Rico’s Health Care System” (National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, #1R01MD014188-01A1. Role: Co-Principal Investigator (with Nelson Varas-Diaz and Sheilla Rodriguez-Madera).
• 2018-2020: “A Multi-Level Health Systems Study of Collapse and Resilience in Puerto’s Response to Hurricane Maria.” (National Institute on Aging, #1R21AG063453-01). Role: Co-PI (with Nelson Varas-Diaz and Sheilla Rodriguez-Madera). This study (“the AFTER project”) examined using ethnographic methods the impact of hurricane Maria on the health care system in Puerto Rico, incorporating multilevel institutional ethnography with patients, providers/administrators, and policy makers.
• Rodríguez-Madera, S., Varas-Díaz, N., Padilla, M., Grove, K., Rivera-Bustelo, K., Ramos, J., Contreras-Ramirez, V., Rivera-Rodriguez, S., Vargas-Molina, R., Santini, J. (2021). “The impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico’s health system: Post-disaster perceptions and experiences of health care providers and administrators.” Global Health Research and Policy, 6(44): 1-11. doi: 10.1186/s41256-021-00228-w
• Padilla, Mark, José Félix Colón-Burgos, Caroline Mary Parker, Nelson Varas-Díaz, Armando Matiz-Reyes. (2019). “An institutional ethnography of prevention and treatment services for substance use disorders in the Dominican Republic.” Global Public Health Dec 11:1-13. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2019.1701059.
• Colón Burgos, J., Padilla, M., Nuñez, A., Varas-Díaz, N., & Matiz-Reyes, A. (2019). An ethnographic study of ‘touristic escapism’ and health vulnerability among Dominican male tourism workers. Global Public Health, 14:11, 1578-1588,https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2019.1651370.
• 2013-2018: “Migration, Tourism, and the HIV/drug-use Syndemic in the Dominican Republic.” (NIDA Grant 1 R01 DA031581-01A1). PI: Mark Padilla. The “Syndemics Project” used the medical anthropological notion of “syndemics” to address the political, economic, and cultural conditions of commercial sex workers who serve a tourist clientele in Santo Domingo and Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic
• 2014-2016: “Physicians and Health Related Services for Male to Female Transgender Persons.” (NIDA Grant 1R21MH102025-01A1). PI: Mark Padilla (Co-PI: Sheilla Rodríguez Madera). This project investigated the attitudes and practices of Puerto Rican physicians toward transgender women, investigating the manifestations of stigma and inequality in these interactions and the consequences of the lack of access to gender affirming care in this setting.
• 2011 Padilla, Mark, Guilamo-Ramos, Godbole, R. “A Syndemic Analysis of Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Behavior among Tourism Employees in Sosúa, Dominican Republic.” Qualitative Health Research. doi: 10.1177/1049732311419865