Research interests
Dr. Janes is a medical anthropologist interested in and committed to social science approaches to public health and global health policy. Janes has research strengths in human-environment interactions, social inequities and health, global health governance, and maternal and child health.
From 2005-2008 he examined the impact of recent climate disasters on herding households in rural Mongolia and, with his former doctoral student Oyuntsetseg Chuluundorj, completed a book on this topic. His research with rural herders brought Janes in direct contact with the rapid scale-up of mining activities in Mongolia – many funded by Canadian investment – and the impact that these are having on rural communities.
From 2009 onward, he focused increasingly on assessing the public health impact of global resource extraction, in Mongolia and beyond. He worked mainly at the policy level, specifically on issues related to public health governance of the resource sector. His projects in this area focused on bringing health impact assessment concepts and methods into the extractive sector. In recognition of his many years of work in Mongolia, in 2011 he was awarded the “National Medal of Honour” by the Government of Mongolia for his contributions to developing the health sector, the highest award given to a non-national.
In addition to his work on mining and health, Janes has a broad theoretical interest in the association of global social and environmental changes with the emergence and outbreak of infectious zoonotic diseases.
Teaching interests
- Global health, comparative health systems
- Environmental change and health
- Health consequences of extractive industry development
- Health impact assessment
Education
BA Anthropology, University of California-San Diego
MA Anthropology, University of Colorado-Boulder
PhD Medical Anthropology, University of California-San Francisco & Berkeley
PDF Spatial Epidemiology, University of California-Berkeley
Selected publications (*supervisee)
Janes C, Chuluundorj O*, Making Disasters: Climate Change, Neoliberal Governance, and Livelihood Insecurity on the Mongolian Steppe, School for Advanced Research Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico. In Press.
Janes C, Bymabaa T*, Lkhagvasuren O*, Pfeiffer M, Sodnompil T, Davison C, Wagler M*, "Health impact assessment and sustainable development in the resource sector: managing the public health impacts of resource extraction in the
“Asian Eldorado,” IN Woodman, S. (ed.) Public Health Policy in Asia: Boundaries of Risk and Redistribution. Routledge.
Allen RW , Gombojav E , Barkhasragchaa B , Byambaa T *, Lkhasuren O , Amram O , Takaro TK , Janes CR, "An assessment of air pollution and its attributable mortality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia," Air Quality, Atmosphere, & Health, 6(1), 137-150.
Janes CR, Corbett KK , Jones JH , Trostle J, "Emerging infectious diseases: the role of social sciences," Lancet, 380(9857), 1884-1886.
Snyder J, Wagler M*, Lkhagvasuren O*, Laing L, Davison C, Janes C, "An equity tool for health impact assessments: Reflections from Mongolia,” Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 34, 83-91.
Hayden MH*, Uejio CK , Walker K , Ramberg F , Moreno R , Rosales C , Gameros M , Mearns LO , Zielinski-Gutierrez E , Janes CR, "Microclimate and human factors in the divergent ecology of Aedes aegypti along the Arizona, U.S./Sonora, MX border,” EcoHealth, 7(1), 64-77.
Janes CR, "Failed development and vulnerability to climate change in central Asia: implications for food security and health," Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health 22(3 Suppl), 236S-245S.
Janes C, Corbett K, "Anthropology and global health," Annual Reviews of Anthropology, 38, 167-183.
Janes C, "Commentary: 'culture', cultural explanations, and causality," International Journal of Epidemiology, 35(2), 261-263.
Janes C, Chuluundorj O*, Hilliard C*, Rak K*, Janchiv K*, "Poor medicine for poor people? Assessing the impact of neoliberal reform on health care equity in a post-socialist context," Global Public Health, 1(1), 1-22
Selected professional activities and networks
National Coordinator and Sustaining Member, Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research
Member, Canadian Public Health Association
Member, Canadian Society for International Health
Sustaining Fellow, Society for Applied Anthropology
Member, American Anthropology Association
Member and former President (elected), Society for Medical Anthropology
Member, American Public Health Association
Some favourite reads...
Paton, Alan (1949), Cry, the Beloved Country. Scribner.
Achebe, Chinua (1959), Things Fall Apart. Anchor Books.
Le Guin, Ursula (1969), The Left Hand of Darkness. Ace.
Garrett, Laurie (1994), The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. Penguin
Garrett, Laurie (2000), Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. Hyperion.