Elena Messina

Elena is a Medical Anthropologist. She had the opportunity to study in Italy, Brazil and Switzerland. Having gone back and forth between academia, NGOs and the Public Health Service, Elena is currently working as affiliated researcher at the University of Lausanne’s Institut de sciences sociales des religions. During her time as a student, she was fascinated by Medical Anthropology and she found herself consistently engaged in the intersection between health, public policies and the personal / cultural conceptions of illness and therapy.

A highly accomplished management professional with 7 years of diverse experience in the medical sector, Elena is currently working as a consultant with the Piedmont Regional Tissue & Organ Procurement Coordination Agency on the regional delivery of Italy’s national “Choice for the Community” initiative. This initiative involves extensive medical and scientific liaison with political and civil institutions to develop awareness and acceptance of organ donation. Elena is in charge in designing Continuing Medical Education (ECM) courses related to organ donation and religious belonging, involving healthcare personnel. She is also an Adjunct professor in medical anthropology within the Faculty of Nursing Science at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.

Elena has a theoretical interest in healing, emotion and subjectivity. Exploring the role of culture in the shaping of memory, autobiography, illness and therapy, she bases her research on narrative analysis and on the symbolic associations that medicines and illnesses take on patient’s lives.