back

Alejandro Ceron

Alejandro Ceron

Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology

alejandro.ceronvaldes@du.edu

303-871-2088 (Office)

https://liberalarts.du.edu/about/people/alejandro-ceron

Personal

Sturm Hall, 2000 East Asbury Avenue Denver, CO 80208

What I do

I am committed to the collective imagining of a society with no exclusion and to working toward its realization through the combination of applied work in anthropology and public health.

Specialization(s)

health, Human Rights, ethnographic research, Public health, sociocultural epidemiology

Professional Biography

Alejandro Cerón is a researcher interested in the social and cultural aspects of health in Guatemala and Central America. Through his work he pays particular attention to the link between public health practice and health as a human right from the perspective of sociocultural epidemiology. He received a medical degree in 2000 and a master in public health in 2006 (both from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala), as well as a doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Washington in 2013. Between 2001 and 2006, he worked in rural Guatemala as a physician and primary health project coordinator. He is Associate Professor in the Anthropology department at the University of Denver. He maintains professional collaborations in Guatemala with the Instituto de Salud Incluyente (ISIS), the Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS), the Fundación para el Niño Enfermo Renal (FUNDANIER), and the Red de Acceso a Medicamentos en Guatemala (RedAM-Guate).

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Sociocultural Anthropology, University of Washington, 2013
  • MA, Sociocultural Anthropology, University of Washington, 2009
  • MPH (Master in Public Health), Epidemiology, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 2006
  • MD, Medicine, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 2000

Professional Affiliations

  • American Anthropological Association
  • Society for Applied Anthropology
  • Colegio de Médicos de Guatemala

Research

My overall research goals are to understand the relationship between public health and the right to health, in theory and in practice, through collaborative projects that utilize qualitative and quantitative research methods. I am also interested in developing collaborative research projects that utilize ethnographic research tools in creative ways.

Areas of Research

sociocultural anthropology
medical anthropology
applied anthropology
Human Rights
research methods in anthropology
public health
health systems
ethnographic research
health and environment

Featured Publications

Kinyon, K., Ceron, A., & Dinko, D. H. (2022). "The University of Denver Ethnography Lab: Fostering a WAC Community of Practice". Proceedings for the International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference 2020/2021.. Proceedings for the International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference 2020/2021.
Ceron, A. (2018). Epidemiología neocolonial: Prácticas de salud pública y derecho a la salud en Guatemala. [Neo-colonial epidemiology: Public health practice and the right to health in Guatemala.] (p. 174). Guatemala City, Guatemala: Asociacion para el Avance de las Ciencias Sociales [Society for the Advancement of Social Sciences]. Serie Autores Invitados No. 28 [Invited Authors Series, #28.] .

Presentations

Ceron Valdes, M. (2025). La Epidemiología Neocolonial de la Enfermedad Renal Crónica de Causas No Tradicionales en Comunidades Agrícolas de Guatemala [Neocolonial Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease of Non-Traditional Causes in Agricultural Communities of Guatemala. INCAP-Drexler Training Program to build capacity for research on Social Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease. Webinar: INCAP & Drexler University .
Ceron Valdes, M. (2024). "W ater contamination and the right to a healthy environment in a neocolonial enclave: a case study from Southwest Guatemala ". Annual Meeting. Santa Fe, NM: Society for Applied Anthropology.
Ceron Valdes, M. (2024). " Retos para el Abordaje del Nexo entre Medio Ambiente e Inequidades en Salud: Comentarios a ’La Construcción de Salutogénesis frente a la Complejidad Ecológica de CARD ’" [ Challenges for addressing the nexus between environment and health inequities: Comments to Building Salutogenesis] . La Construcción de Salutogénesis frente a la Complejidad Ecológica de Centroamérica y República Dominicana [Building Salutogenesis to face ecological complexity in Central America and Dominican Republic]. Guatemala City: Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Naturales y Tecnología ( IARNA ) , Universidad Rafael Landívar.
Ceron Valdes, M. (2023). " Collective Embodiments and the rise of Chronic Kidney Disease of non-Traditional Causes in Guatemala ". American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Toronto, Ontario: American Anthropological Association.
Neiss, K., Ceron Valdes, M., Tanori, B., & Rodriguez, A. (2023). "Essential Voices: Creating a Story Archive to Resist Invisibilization.". Conference on Community Writing "Activating Radical Imagination." . Denver, CO: Coalition for Community Writing.
Ceron Valdes, M. (2023). " Decolonizing Epidemiology: who, what, when, where, why? " . Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences , Colloquium. . Denver, CO: University of Colorado Denver .
Ceron Valdes, M. (2023). " El acceso a los medicamentos como componente del derecho a la salud. " [Access to medicines as a component of the right to health.] Course "Propiedad Intelectual y el Derecho a la Salud, con Énfasis en el Acceso a Medicamentos," [Intellectual Property and the Right to Health, with Emphasis on Access to Medicines] . International Course on Access to Medicines and the Right to Health. Remote: International Course organized by Vacunas para la Gente [The People’s Vaccine Alliance, Latin American chapter] .
Ceron Valdes, M. (2023). Challenging Power through Grassroots Organization, South-to-South Collaborations, and International Solidarity. Critical Perspectives from Latin America. Evolving Landscapes of Human Rights. Storrs, CT: Human Rights Institute at University of Connecticut.
Ceron Valdes, M. (2022). La Determinación Social de la Resistencia Antimicrobiana: Consideraciones para la Acción desde las Comunidades. VII Semana Científica. Guatemala City, Guatemala: Universidad Rafael Landívar.
Ceron Valdes, M. (2016). "Interculturalidad y Salud Pública en America Latina: Conceptos y Avances en Politica de Salud Intercultural" [Multiculturalism and Public Health in Latin America: Concepts and Progress in Multicultural Health Policy]. Bogota, Colombia: Doctorado Interfacultades en Salud Pública, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.