Jennifer S. Hirsch

Jennifer Hirsch is a professor of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. From 2010 to 2024, she directed Sociomedical Sciences's doctoral programs. She currently co-directs the Columbia Center for Population Research. Hirsch also co-directed the Sexual Health Initiative to Foster Transformation. Her work spans topics such as gender, human sexuality, and public health. Her book, A Courtship After Marriage: Sexuality and Love in Mexican Transnational Families, which has been used widely in college classrooms, explores the lives of Mexican women in Atlanta and rural Mexico, with a focus on changing ideas of marriage among Latinx couples. Hirsch served on the Board of Directors of Jews for Racial and Economic Justice from 2014 to 2020 and is a member of B'nai Jeshurun

Books

Authored or co-authored

Hirsch, Jennifer S. A Courtship After Marriage: Sexuality and Love in Mexican Transnational Families. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
Hirsch, Jennifer S., Daniel J. Smith, Holly Wardlow, Shanti Parikh, Harriet Phinney, and Constance A. Nathanson. 2009. The Secret: Love, Marriage, and HIV. Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press.
Hirsch, Jennifer S., and Shamus Khan. 2020. Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus. W. W. Norton & Company.

Edited or co-edited

Hirsch, Jennifer S. and Holly Wardlow. 2006. : Modern Loves: The Anthropology of Romantic Courtship and Companionate Marriage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Padilla, Mark, Jennifer S. Hirsch, Robert Sember, Miguel Muñoz-Laboy and Richard Parker, eds. 2007. Love and Globalization: Transformations of Intimacy in the Contemporary World. Vanderbilt University Press.

Publications

Original peer reviewed articles (selected)

Hirsch, Jennifer S., Miguel Muñoz Laboy, Christina M. Nyhus, Kathryn M. Yount, and Jose Bauermeister. 2009. Because He Misses His Normal Life Back Home: Masculinity and Sexual Behavior among Mexican Migrants in Atlanta, Georgia. Perspectives in Sexual and Reproductive Health. 41:23-32
Nambiar, Devaki, Mai Huong Nguyen, Le Minh Giang, Jennifer Hirsch, and Richard G. Parker. "Tabula Diptycha: Differential HIV Knowledge, Stigma and Intended Behavioural Outcomes Amongst Visitors at Vietnam's Pain and Hope Exhibition." Global Public Health 8 :S46-60.
Le Minh Giang, Jennifer S. Hirsch, Richard G. Parker and Emily E. Vasquez. 2013. Social and Policy Dimensions of HIV in Vietnam. 8: S1-S6.
Dao, Amy, Le Minh Giang, J. S. Hirsch, and R Parker. 2013. "Social Science Research of HIV in Vietnam: A Critical Review and Future Directions." Global Public Health 8: S7-S29
NIHMS #536685
Hirsch, J.S. 2015. Desire Across Borders: Markets, Migration, and Marital HIV Risk in Rural Mexico. Culture, Health & Sexuality 17 :20-33
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Non-peer reviewed publications

Hirsch, Jennifer. "The Facts: Teenage Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Latin America." Washington, D.C: Center for Population Options, 1990.
Hirsch, Jennifer. "The Facts: Teenage Pregnancy in Africa." Washington, D.C.: Center for Population Options, 1990.
Hirsch, Jennifer. "The Facts: Young Women and AIDS: A Worldwide Perspective." Washington, D.C.: Center for Population Options, 1990.
Barker, Gary, Jennifer Hirsch, and Shara Neidell. Serving the Future: an Update on Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Programs in Developing Countries. Washington, D.C: Center for Population Options, 1991.
Yinger, Nancy, Alex de Sherbinim, Luis H. Ochoa, Leo Morris and Jennifer Hirsch. La Actividad Sexual Y La Maternidad Entre Las Adolescentes en América Latina y El Caribe: Riesgos y Consecuencias. Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau, Macro International, and the Centers for Disease Control, 1992.
Jennifer Hirsch and Gary Barker. Abortion and Adolescents in the Developing World: A Preventable Tragedy. Washington, D.C.: Center for Population Options, 1992.
Hirsch, Jennifer S. 'Because he misses his normal life back home': Masculinity, Sexuality and AIDS Risk Behavior in a Mexican Migrant Community. Migration World Magazine, Volume 29, No. 4, 2000.

Awards

Carole H. Browner Graduate Student Mentorship Award, Society for Medical Anthropology, 2023
Selected as one of New York City's 16 'Heroes in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence' by Chirlaine McCray, First Lady of New York, November 26, 2017
Public Voices Fellow. Columbia University and the Op-Ed project. New York City, January – December 2015
Gray Wawro Lecture on Gender, Health, and Wellbeing, Center for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality, Rice University, Houston, Texas, April 24, 2014
Fellow, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 2012
George and Mary Foster Distinguished Lecture in Cultural Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas Texas, April 13, 2011
CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of 2010 Award for "The Secret: Love, Marriage and HIV," 2010
Honorable Mention, California Public Anthropology Competition for "Across Borders", 2009
Outstanding Young Professional Award, Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section, American Public Health Association, November 2002.
Paul and Esther Harper Endowment Award, Department of Population Dynamics and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, May 1999.
Carl S. Schultz Award, Department of Population Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University,1997.
Poster Award Winner, Population Association of America, Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, March 1997.
Graduated summa cum laude and elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa, Princeton University, June 1988.