Jessica Olivares

The Chief Research Officer, has determined that UTMB research should be prioritized into six health communities. This researcher has received the following badge(s):

Jessica L. Olivares is a qualitative researcher and joint Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Bioethics and Health Humanities (IBHH) and the Center for Addiction Sciences and Therapeutics (CAST). Dr. Olivares holds a PhD from Rice University where she honed her approach to researching and teaching questions of anthropology, science and technology studies, medical humanities, and patient- and community-centered, intersectional approaches. As a trained socio-cultural, medical anthropologist, she approaches issues in the world from a feminist and queer perspective, as well as a racial justice one.

One of the throughlines throughout her research is a fundamental interest in personhood and illegality within ethical, moral, and technical entanglements. Her first ethnographic book project tracks the relationship between trust, transparency, and technology, particularly around the harms and health effects of policing and surveillance and the unevenness of technological innovations when it comes to race, gender, and sexuality. She is currently researching how substance use disorders (SUDs) care teams engage with ethical conversations around a good life. Jessica looks forward to all of the unique collaboration opportunities possible within a medical training institution.