Michael Oldani, PhD, MS, Associate Prof., Medical Anthropology

Office location: Laurentide 2132
Phone: (262) 472-1728
Email: oldanim@uww.edu

Michael Oldani is an Associate Professor of medical anthropology and Director of the Family and Health Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.  His ethnographic work has critically examined the impact of modern pharmaceuticals on medical practice, in particular psychiatry; on family dynamics; and on notions of personhood and ‘the self’.  Recent publications have specifically assessed the sales and marketing activities of multinational pharmaceutical companies; documented and theorized the racialized prescribing of stimulant medication for children amongst Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Canada; and, explored the ethical implications of incentivized models (i.e., bonus pay for physicians) of treatment compliance for both doctors and patients.  He has published articles in Medical Anthropology Quarterly; Transcultural Psychiatry and Anthropology and Medicine.  He currently is working on his first ethnographic book, ‘Tales from the Script: An Ethnography of Pharmaceutical Prescribing’, that will be published through Duke University Press.  He recently consulted on a documentary film project with M. Palmieri and D. Mosher (Filmscience) – www.offlabelfilm.com and routinely does consulting work with investigative journalists and for law firms/lawsuits regarding pharmaceutical sales practices.  Professor Oldani completed his doctoral training at Princeton University (2006) and prior to that he worked within the pharmaceutical industry during the 1990s. [Courses Taught at UWW: Individual and Society (Gen Ed 130); Cultural Anthropology (Anthr 218); Culture, Medicine and Health (Anthro/Soc 302); Pharmaceuticals, Culture, and Society (Anthro316); Native North America: People, Culture, and Survival (Anthr 305); Anthropological Theory (Anthro/Soc 420); Independent Study (Anthro 498); In development: Global Health]