Fubright scholar Brittany Anderson poses for a portrait on July 19, 2019. Anderson will travel to Sierra Leone to examine how Ebola survivors navigate social, economic, and medical hardships. (Emily Wangen/The Daily Iowan)
By Andy Mitchell, The Daily Iowan
From 2014-2016, when an Ebola outbreak rocked several countries in Africa and made headlines worldwide, Sierra Leone was one of the hardest-hit places. The devastating effects of the disease made enough of an impression on Brittany Anderson to send her to the country for two summers, and today, she’s awaiting a third trip.
The University of Iowa Ph.D. candidate in anthropology will use a Fulbright award to conduct dissertation work in studying the long-term social and economic effects of the Ebola outbreak.
Anderson was an undergraduate at Luther College when the outbreak hit, and when she did her senior thesis in biology working with anthropology and biology texts centered on Ebola, she found an important piece missing.