Sheldon Zink, Ph.D.

I am a sociocultural anthropologist. My areas of expertise include History of Science, Technology and Medicine, Indigenous healing practices of the People of the Andes and the Peruvian Amazon, Medical Anthropology, Applied Bioethics, Dark Tourism, Commodification of the Body, Social Policy, Community Activism and Social Movements.

After receiving my PhD from Temple University, I was Appointed the Director of the Program for Transplant Policy and Ethics for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and there I taught in the Department of Medical Ethics. I have held several other teaching positions in sociology and anthropology departments before coming to La Salle. Throughout the course of my academic career, I have many opportunities as a researcher and extensive experience as an advocate. I have worked with Prisoners on Death Row to obtain appropriate medical care and advocated for people who are dying, those who need access to care and others who been systematically disenfranchised. I have conducted ethnographic studies in several New York City administrative departments, at Organ Procurement Organizations in PA, NJ, California, and Texas, with medical examiners, funeral directors, mural and graffiti artists, and among Elvis impersonators. I have spent time observing committees determining who will receive an organ transplant, watched countless surgeries and spoken to families about the traumatic death of a loved one. These are but a few of the opportunities for research I have had as a social scientist.

I am passionate about traveling and I have taken students to the Peruvian Rainforest and Kenya. I am whole heartedly committed to an environmentally sustainable future, teaching compassion before judgment, and empowering students to be a force for social justice. When I am not at La Salle or doing research, you will find me at home with my husband, daughter, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 8 chickens.