Caitlyn Placek, PhD

Biographical Statement

Dr. Caitlyn Placek is a biocultural medical anthropologist specializing in mixed-methods research and evaluation, with a primary focus on substance use and sexual health. She is an Associate Scientist at Henry Ford Health's Global Health Initiative, where she leads research and evaluation projects on behavioral health both locally and internationally.

Her work has primarily examined the biocultural and environmental factors that shape substance use and other behavioral health conditions in reproductive-aged women. She is the author of Drug Use, Recovery, and Maternal Instinct Bias: A Biocultural and Socio-Ecological Approach. From 2023 to 2024, she served as a Fulbright Global Scholar, conducting collaborative research on how cultural models influence treatment outcomes for mothers who use polysubstances in Canada, England, and the Netherlands. Dr. Placek has also worked extensively in India on projects addressing substance use, dietary behaviors, health, and community education.

She earned her PhD in Anthropology from Washington State University in 2016 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Epidemiology with the Global Health Equity Scholars Program (2016–2017), a National Institutes of Health– and Fogarty International Center–sponsored consortium, during which she led a year-long collaborative study on substance use in India. Her previous positions include Associate Professor of Anthropology at Ball State University and Lead Evaluator for the Centerstone Research Institute.

Titles

Associate Scientist, Henry Ford Health/Global Health Initiative

Research Interests

• Substance use
• Women's health
• Cultural adaptation
• Sexual health