Home > Faculty and Research > Rodney F. Ganey, Ph.D. Faculty Community-Based Research Award > 2009 Ganey Award Winner
Daniel Lende, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and fellow at Notre Dame, is the 2009 Rodney F. Ganey, Ph.D. Faculty Community-Based Research Award winner. The award, in the amount of $5000, honors a Notre Dame faculty member whose research has made a contribution to a local community organization.
Lende’s work focuses on medical anthropology, the synthesis of biological and cultural anthropology, and applied anthropology. His research centers on behavioral health problems, particularly substance use and abuse.
In spring 2005, Dr. Lende undertook his first community-based research project, “Cultural Barriers and African-American Women in South Bend: Improving Breast Cancer Screening” with Notre Dame undergraduate Alicia Lachiando, and Margaret McKinney-Arnold of African American Women in Touch. Furthered by a Rodney F. Ganey, Ph.D. Mini-Grant, the study went on to become part of Lachiando’s dissertation, and was published in the community guide book, Underneath It All: Humor in Breast Cancer, which has since been used at Memorial Hospital, South Bend.
In 2006, with a grant from the Center for Social Concerns, Lende’s work with undergraduates evolved into the community-based research course “Researching Disease: Methods in Medical Anthropology.” In this course, Dr. Lende and teams of Notre Dame undergraduates partner with local community organizations including Imani Unidad, African American Women in Touch, Notre Dame Office of Alcohol and Drug Education, and a support group for veterans suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Their research has enabled community organizations to improve conditions in hospital waiting rooms, educate the public about PTSD, and provide better services to people living with HIV/AIDS.
Lende received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Emory University in 2003 and a BA in anthropology from Harvard in 1991. Prior to his graduate studies, he worked as administrator, counselor, and research director in rehabilitation centers in Nigeria and Columbia.
