Overview
Fatima G. Fairfax is a Sociology PhD student at Duke University. Her research focuses on racial health disparities and the role of health technology in equitable health outcomes. With her dissertation, she aims to investigate the mechanisms through which health disparities persist, especially in a world of increased digitization, automation, and technological assistance in healthcare. Specifically, she will explore how racialized ideas of health and medicine are encoded in technologically assisted health processes in ways that may exacerbate racialized health outcomes. She will also explore where health technology may be especially suited to mitigate longstanding racial disparities in health outcomes.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Fatima worked for New Profit, a venture philanthropy firm, as a manager on the Measurement and Evaluation team. She received a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard University in 2018. Fatima is currently supported by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship.