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Cecília Tomori, PhD

Specialties and Expertise
- Community / Public Health
- Disparities
- Education
- Equity
- Family
- Global Health
- Health Behavior
- Health Policy
- HIV/AIDS
- Lactation
- Maternal Health
- Mental Health
- Parenting
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Sleep
- Social Determinants of Health/Poverty
- Statistics/Qualitative Research
- Women's Health
Overview
Cecília Tomori is an anthropologist and public health scholar whose work investigates the structural and sociocultural drivers that shape health, illness, and health inequities. Dr. Tomori is an internationally recognized expert on breastfeeding, infant sleep, and maternal child health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has supported numerous organizations focused on maternal child health and advocated for integrated and equitable pandemic policies. Recently, she has also been pursuing how science and health policy are influenced by financial and political interests. Dr. Tomori has collaborated with colleagues at Johns Hopkins and beyond on breastfeeding, infant sleep, infectious disease prevention, drug use and health policy, among other topics. She has authored three books on breastfeeding and reproduction and numerous publications on a range of public health issues.
Additional Resources
Below are selected resources. For more information, please see full CV.
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Publications/Research
Tomori C, Hernández-Cordero S, Busath N, Menon P, Pérez-Escamilla R. (2022) What works to protect, promote and support breastfeeding on a large scale: a review of reviews. Maternal Child Nutrition. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.13344
Tomori C, Evans DP, Ahmed A, Nair A, Meier BM. (2022) Where is the “Public” in American Public Health? Moving from individual responsibility to collective action. EClinicalMedicine. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2022.101341
Tomori C. (2022) Overcoming barriers to breastfeeding. Best Practice & Research in Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2022.01.010
Tomori, C. (2021). Scientists: don’t feed the doubt machine. Nature, 599(7883), 9-9. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02993-7
Han, SS and Tomori C. (eds). (2021). Routledge Handbook of Anthropology and Reproduction. New York, London: Routledge.
Tomori C, Ahmed A, Evans DP, Meier BM, Nair A. (2021) Your health is in your hands? US CDC COVID-19 mask guidance reveals the moral foundations of public health. EClinicalMedicine. 2021 Aug 1;38. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101071
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Awards/Honors
2018 Exceptional Contribution Award, Durham University, Durham, UK
2012 Named Anthroworks Best 40 Cultural Anthropology Dissertations of 2011, blog of the Culture in Global Affairs research and policy program of the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
2009-2011 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Training Fellowship in Anthropological Demography, Awarded by the Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, and the Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
2009-2010 Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar, Center for the Education of Women, University of Michigan
2009 Horace H. Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, University of Michigan
2008 Phi Kappa Phi, University of Michigan
2007 Roy Rappaport Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction, University of Michigan, Fall
2006-2007 Predoctoral Research Fellowship, Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life, An Alfred P. Sloan Center for the Study of Working Families, University of Michigan
2005-2006 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Training Fellowship in Anthropological Demography, Awarded by the Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research, and the Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
2005 Horace H. Rackham Humanities Fellowship, University of Michigan
2003-2004 Horace H. Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan, University of Michigan
2003 Fieldwork Research Grant, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan
2003 Roy Rappaport Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction, University of Michigan, Fall
2003 Roy Rappaport Teaching Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Instruction, University of Michigan, Winter
2002-2003 Horace H. Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, University of Michigan, University of Michigan
2001-2002 Predoctoral Research Fellowship, Center for the Ethnography of Everyday Life, An Alfred P. Sloan Center for the Study of Working Families, University of Michigan
1997 Phi Beta Kappa, Swarthmore College
1996 Joel Dean Grant for Research in the Social Sciences, Swarthmore College