Rate My Professor Ruth Fitzgerald

Professor Ruth Fitzgerald serves as Head of the Social Anthropology programme in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology within the University of Otago's Division of Humanities. She earned her PhD from the University of Otago in 1998 with a thesis titled 'Who cares? An ethnographic investigation of the meaning of care.' A Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, her research centers on medical anthropology, particularly ideologies in health, practices of care, moral reasoning in health dilemmas, clinical anthropology, oral health, and biotechnologies of health in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Her work explores the cultural significance of genetic testing, termination of pregnancy, scientists as health workers, embodied risks of consumption such as food scares, and media constructions of these technologies. She employs qualitative methods including ethnography, grounded theory, narrative theory, media analysis, and embodiment studies, often in interdisciplinary collaborations between sciences and humanities. Key projects include investigations into health policy, health practitioners, disability, new technologies in New Zealand medicine, lay meanings of oral health, and the Critical Disability Studies Research Network, which she directs.

Fitzgerald has held principal investigator roles on numerous grants since 2001, supervising PhD and MA theses on diverse topics. Her publications span journal articles, book chapters, and conference contributions, including 'Perceptions of music therapy amongst academicians and healthcare providers in New Zealand' (2025, co-authored), 'Hope: Valuing lives and persons with degenerative conditions: Duchenne muscular dystrophy' (2023, Sites), 'Prenatal screening' chapter in Encyclopedia of Health Research in the Social Sciences (2023), 'Biotechnologies of Care' (2022), 'Pacific Families Navigating Responsiveness and Children’s Sleep in Aotearoa New Zealand' (2021), and 'Biological citizenship at the periphery: parenting children with genetic disorders' (2008). She has received the Graduate Research School Dean's Medal for Contribution to Supervision (2025), Ako Aotearoa Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching (2017), OUSA Supervisor of the Year (2014), and Royal Society Te Rangi Hiroa Medal (2015) for contributions to medical anthropology. Her scholarship influences understandings of health inequalities, ethical decision-making, and biotechnological impacts in social and political contexts.