Graduate Student Directory

Research Interests

Global health

Social policy (health care)

Borders

Migration

Mixed methods

Subnational comparative methods

Artificial Intelligence in global health

Biography, Education and Training

Lucia Vitale is an interdisciplinary global health scholar who uses comparative, mixed methods to study the politics of primary healthcare access in border spaces. She is a PhD candidate in the Politics Department at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an adjunct professor in Georgetown's Science, Technology, and International Affairs (STIA) program, and at the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM). Her broader work has engaged topics of intellectual property rights in health and medicine, and the promises and pitfalls of artificial intelligence for global health. She is an active member of the International Studies Association’s (ISA) Global Health Section, and the American Political Science Association’s (APSA) Health Politics and Policy, and Migration and Citizenship Sections. 

Vitale holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison where she graduated with honors in International Relations. After graduating with her B.A. in 2015, Vitale taught English in Comayagua, Honduras, served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic (DR), and then worked as a contractor for USAID’s Local Works program where she investigated access to documentation, and assessed the needs of cooperatives at the community level. 

Honors, Awards and Grants

• 2022-2023, U.S. Student Fellowship, Fulbright ($27,500)
• 2023, Humane Studies Fellowship, George Mason Institute for Humane Studies ($2,000)
• 2023, Centennial Center Summer & Spring Research Grant, American Political Science Association ($5,00)
• 2023-2024, Cross-Campus Graduate Student Working Group Grant, University of California Humanities Research Institute. “Towards a Critical Fugitive Transdisciplinary Methodology” ($10,000)
• 2023, Attendance Grant, Institute of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research ($3,612)
• 2022, Fieldwork Grant, University of California Santa Cruz, Politics Department ($3,800)
• 2022, Qualifying Exam Fellowship, University of California Santa, Cruz Politics Department ($9,300)
• 2021, Fieldwork Grant, University of California Santa Cruz, Research Center for the Americas” ($1,200)
• 2021, Writing Award, University of California Santa Cruz, Science and Justice Research Center” ($3,000)
• 2020, Research Grant, University of California Santa Cruz, Blum Center ($3,000)
• 2020, Field Research Grant, Tinker Foundation ($2,500)
• 2019, Global Community Health Fellowship, University of California Santa Cruz, Institute for Social Transformation ($1,500)
• 2019-2020, Chancellor’s Fellowship, University of California Santa Cruz ($28,000)

Selected Publications

• 2024. “Alternative archives: Researching politics with chunks of reality.” Politics, 0(0). https://doi-org.oca.ucsc.edu/10.1177/02633957241292492. With Matt Sparke, Sarah Cheikhali, Ingy Higazy, Henry McLaughlin, and Gabriela Segura.
• 2024. “Artificial Intelligence and the Politics of Avoidance in Global Health.” Social Science & Medicine. Social Science & Medicine, 359, 117274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117274. With Leah Shipton.
• Media coverage: Forbes, UCSC Newscenter, Global Health Newswire, Head Topics UK, MedicalXpress, Public Policy Forum.
•  2024. “Framing access, innovation and the public good in a pandemic: Global negotiations for a COVID-19 TRIPS waiver at the WTO” Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. 49(1):9-42. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-10910269. With Matt Kavanaugh, Sara Fischer, and Lisa Akinyi Agutu.
• 2021. “Virtual Trust: Building Confidence at a Distance” Georgetown’s Digital Fieldwork website.
• 2021. “Race, Contagion and the Nation” University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) website. With Dennis Browe and Jenny Reardon
• 2022. “COVID’s Co-Pathogenisis” Syndemics Magazine. With Matt Sparke.
• 2020. “Evaluating Patients Using Mission Services in the Dominican Republic: A Cross-Sectional Study” International Journal of Academic Medicine. 12(9). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10533. With Jessica Rehrig, Divya Padmanabhan, Sharmeen Jaffry, Jane Suh, Tomosky, Christopher Boni.

Selected Presentations

Panels Organized

• “Healthier Outcomes: Who and What Drives Policies around Prevention.” ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (Chicago), March 2025. (panel accepted)
• "Public Meets Health Policy: How Public Influences up, How Policy Influences  Down.” APSA (American Political Science Association) Annual Conference (Philadelphia), September 2024.
• "National and Transnational Global Health Policy: Towards a Healthier World." APSA (American Political Science Association) Annual Conference (Philadelphia), September 2024.
• “Right to Health and Universalism: What is the Connection?” ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (San Francisco), April 2024

Papers Presented

• “Health Citizenship for Health Equity: Accessing Rights in an Increasingly Mobile World.” ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (Chicago), March 2025. (panel accepted)
• “Diagonalizing Global Health with Artificial Intelligence (AI)?” ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (Chicago), March 2025. (panel accepted)
• “The Borders of Global Health Citizenship: Results from a Survey Experiment.” APSA (American Political Science Association) Annual Conference (Philadelphia), September 2024.
• “The Borders of Global Health Citizenship: Inclusion & Exclusion Along the Dominican-Haitian Border.” ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (San Francisco), April 2024.
• “The Borders of Health Citizenship: Results from a Survey Experiment.” SPSA (Southern Political Science Association) Conference-within-a-conference Borders and Migration, (New Orleans), January 2024.
• “Technology vs. Politics: Critiquing Artificial Intelligence in Global Health.” APSA (American Political Science Association) Annual Conference (Los Angeles), September 2023.
• “Artificial Intelligence as Cure: Frontiers of an Anti-Political Health for All.” ISA-West (International Studies Association West Region) Annual Conference (Pasadena, CA), September 2023.
• “Framing Access, Innovation, and the Public Good in a Pandemic: Global Negotiations for a COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver at the WTO.” APSA (American Political Science Association) Annual Conference (Montréal, Canada), September 2022. Selected as part of a theme panel for the 2022 annual meeting.

Discussant and Roundtable Participation

• “Global health studies in International Relations: Mapping the legacy and discussing ways forward.” (Roundtable) ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (Chicago), March 2025. (panel accepted)
• “Fielding Fieldwork: PhD and Early Career perspectives.” (Roundtable) ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (San Francisco), April 2024.
• A Thousand Cuts: Social Protection in the Age of Austerity (Author-meets-Critics Panel). ISA (International Studies Association) Annual Conference (San Francisco), April 2024. 

Teaching Interests

• Adjunct Professor, STIA 4270 “Global Health and Global Migration”
• Instructor-of-record, GCH 165 “Community Analysis for Global Health”
• Course Developer, GCH 166 “Methods in Global Health”
• TA, GCH 100 “Introduction to Global Health”
• TA, POLI 61 “Politics of Social Policy”
• TA, POLI/LGST 122: “Sociology of Law”
• TA, CMMU 163: “Healthcare Inequalities”
• TA, CMMU 165: “Community Analysis for Global Health”
• TA, SOCY 120: “The Sociology of Medicine”

Guest lectures and invited talks

• 2024, Simon Fraser University invited lecture: “Survey Methods in Global Health.” (virtual)
• 2024, Kaiser Permanente Grand Rounds invited lecture: “Understanding AI Tools and Their Implications for Healthcare.” (Santa Clara, CA)
• 2024, Dolores Huerta Center for the Americas invited lecture “The Borders of Global Health Citizenship.” (Santa Cruz, CA)
• 2024, APSA (American Political Science Association) Centennial Center invited scholar-in-residence talk “The Borders of Global Health Citizenship.” (Washington, DC)
• 2024, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) workshop Social Cohesion in Displacement Contexts invited speaker “Community-Directed Surveillance and Migrant Health Rights.” (Berlin, Germany)
• 2023, Kaiser Permanente Bioethics Board meeting invited lecture: “Artificial Intelligence in the Field of Health and Health Care.” (virtual)
• 2023, University of Maryland, School of Public Policy, invited guest lecture “Border Closures during Public Health Crises” with Dr. Catherine Worsnop (College Park, Maryland)
• 2023, Virginia Tech, School of Public and International Affairs, invited guest lecture “Decolonizing Global Health” with Dr. Stephanie Smith (virtual)
• 2022, Pace University, Political Science Department, invited guest lecture “Defining Global Health” with Dr. Nancy Wright (virtual)
• 2021, COVID Calls podcast, invited panelist “EP #357: Researchers’ Roundtable.” with Dr. Scott Gabriel Knowles (virtual)