• Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Memphis (2022–Present)
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Memphis (2021–2022)

• PhD, Anthropology (2021), University of Arizona
• MA, Anthropology (2013), The University of Texas at San Antonio
• BA, Anthropology (2010), The University of Texas at San Antonio

• Medical anthropology; anthropology of care; queer and trans anthropology; the body and embodiment; risk; conceptualizations and practices of biomedical research (e.g., clinical trials, experimentation); medical education, training, specialization, and expertise; clinical ethnography; social science of human papillomavirus (HPV); anal cancer; science and technology studies; health disparities; science, medicine, and popular culture; teaching and pedagogy; culture theory.

Peer Reviewed

• Robertson, William J. and Amaree Austin. 2026. Temporalities of Interembodiment: Insights from Clinical and Community Health Practices. Social Science & Medicine 388: 118791.
• Robertson, William J. 2024. The Butt of the Joke: Camp Humor and Queer Care. Medicine Anthropology Theory 11(2): 1–27.
• Robertson, William J. and Lindsey Raisa Feldman. 2024. Carceral Environments of Risk: Reframing Danger and Care in Imprisoned America. In Exploitation and Criminalization at the Margins, eds. Taryn VanderPyl and Shannell Sanchez. Lexington Books.
• Melo, Milena A., Carla Pezzia, William J. Robertson, and K. Jill Fleuriet. 2024. Anthropological Linguistics, Health, and Healthcare. In The Handbook of Language in Public Health and Healthcare, eds. Ortega, Martinez, Lor, and Ramirez. Wiley Blackwell.
• Robertson, William J. and Emma N. Bunkley. 2024. Iatrogenic Necropolitics: Forced Anal Examinations and State-Sanctioned Homophobia. Culture, Health, and Sexuality 26(3): 317–331.
• Robertson, William J. 2020. A Tale of Two Shitties: Extreme Examples of Professional Habitus from an Anal Cancer Prevention Clinic. Journal of Extreme Anthropology 4(2): 20–41.
• Robertson, William J. 2019. Challenging heteronormativity in medicine. In Routledge Handbook of the Medical Humanities, ed. Alan Bleakley. Routledge, Chapter 8: 105–113.
• Robertson, William J. 2017. "Believe It or Not": The Medical Framing of Rectal Foreign Bodies. Culture, Health, and Sexuality 19(8): 815–828.
• Robertson, William J. 2017. The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Biomedical Education. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 31(2): 159–176.

Accepted for Publication

• Robertson, William J., Quinn Houlihan, Lacie Allen-Bey, and Emma N. Bunkley. LGBTQ+ Health. Invited chapter, eds. J. Mulligan, W. Sanabria, and A. Duncan. Due mid-2026.

In Revision

• Robertson, William J., Lindsey Raisa Feldman, Quinn Houlihan, and Alex Blevins. Advancing a Queer Ethos in Applied and Community-Based Research. Invited chapter, eds. Jane E. Palmer and Valli Rajah. Due 2027.

Non-Reviewed

• Robertson, William J. 2021. Dirt and Care: Queer Care in an Anal Dysplasia Clinic. PhD Dissertation.
• Robertson, William J. 2016. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. In The Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, ed. Nancy Naples. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Robertson, Will. 2014. Learning to Teach Anthropology. Invited Guest Post. Teaching Culture blog, University of Toronto Press.
• Robertson, William J. 2013. Queering Biomedicine: Culture and (In)Visibility in a Medical School. Master's Thesis.
• Robertson, William J. 2013. Medical Authority and Queer Health Disparities. Anthropologies 17 (March).
• Robertson, William J. 2012. "It's the revolution!" Queer Liberation and Anthropological Inquiry. SfAA News 23(3): 26–27.

Book Reviews

• Robertson, William J. 2017. Mythbusting Bodies, Genders, and Sexualities (review of 50 Great Myths of Human Sexuality). Anthropology Book Forum.
• Robertson, William J. 2017. Media, Medicine, Citizen, Capital: Theorizing the Production of Health and Disease (review of Making Health Public). Anthropology Book Forum 3(1).

Popular Press

• Robertson, William. 2023. Heteronormativity in health care is harmful for LGBTQ+ patients — and a source of tension for queer and trans doctors. The Conversation, April 3.

Technical Reports

• Robertson, William J. 2026. Friends of George's Mister Act Audience Survey Report.
• Fleuriet, K. Jill and William J. Robertson. 2025. Creativity, Connectivity, and Care: The Role of San Pedro Playhouse in the Wellbeing of Cast and Crew. Executive Report.

External Research Grants (Total to date: $58,980)

• 2025 — Southern Equality Research Grant, Southern Equality Research and Policy Center. "Camp Resistance: Drag, Queer Care, and Resilience in Necropolitical Times." $2,000.
• 2025 — The Comitas Award for Significant Applications of Anthropology, Society for Applied Anthropology. "Creativity, Connectivity, and Care." $10,000.
• 2024 — The Wenner-Gren Foundation Engaged Research Grant (co-PI, Lindsey Feldman). "Queer Carceral Care." $25,000.
• 2018 — The Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant. "Screening Sex: An Ethnography of an Anal Dysplasia Clinic." $19,980.

Internal Research Grants (Total to date: $12,500)

• 2026 — FAHSS Support Program, University of Memphis. "Camp Resistance: Drag, Queer Care, and Resilience in Necropolitical Times." $2,500.
• 2024 — Art and Health Research Team Grant, Institute of Arts and Health, University of Memphis. "Queer Cemetery Project." $2,500.
• 2023 — University of Memphis College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Research Grant. $6,500.
• 2019 — University of Arizona GPSC Research and Project (ReaP) Grant. $1,000.

Program Support

• 2024 — Innovate Memphis Ethnographic Support for Housing & Environmental Justice. Co-PI: Lindsey Feldman. $29,835 (1% effort).

Competitive Travel Grants

• 2019 — Traditions, Transitions, and Treasures Fund, University of Arizona. $700.
• 2019 — University of Arizona Women's Studies Advisory Council Travel Grant. $500.
• 2019 — University of Arizona GPSC Travel Grant. $750.
• 2017 — University of Arizona GPSC Travel Grant. $750.
• 2016 — University of Arizona GPSC Travel Grant. $750.

Funding Attempts

• 2025 — The Wenner-Gren Foundation Engaged Research Grant (co-PI, Jill Fleuriet). Round 2 elimination.
• 2025 — Wenner-Gren Post-PhD Research Grant. "Camp Resistance." Round 2 elimination.
• 2024 — Wenner-Gren Post-PhD Research Grant. "Camp Resistance." Round 1 elimination.
• 2023 — NSF CAREER. "Queer Care in Troubled Times." Not competitive, needs substantial revision.
• 2023 — Wayne F. Placek Grant (co-PI, Lindsey Feldman). No score or feedback provided.
• 2017–2018 — National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, Cultural Anthropology Program. Submitted three times.
• 2017–2018 — Agency for Healthcare Research Quality R36 Dissertation Grant. Submitted twice; second scored 46, referred for Council Review (not funded).
• 2017 — The Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Fieldwork Grant. Submitted twice.

Submitted

• 2026 — Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS) Support Program, University of Memphis Division of Research & Innovation. $2,500.

University of Memphis — Undergraduate Courses

• Cultural Anthropology (Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Fall 2024, Fall 2026)
• Medical Anthropology (Spring 2023, Fall 2026)
• Culture/Kin/Family (Fall 2021, Summer 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024)
• Queer Anthropology (Spring 2022, Spring 2024)
• Culture, Society, and Mental Health (Spring 2022, Fall 2025)
• Anthropological Theory (Spring 2025)
• Culture/Sex/Childbirth (Spring 2025)
• Humor & Culture, Helen Hardin Honors College (Fall 2026)
• Dungeons & Dragons: An Academic Adventure, Helen Hardin Honors College (Fall 2022–2025)

University of Memphis — Graduate Courses

• Critically Applied Medical Anthropology (Fall 2023, Fall 2025)
• Data Analysis & Writing (Fall 2023, Fall 2024)
• Queer Anthropology (Spring 2022, Spring 2024)
• Culture, Society, and Mental Health (Spring 2022)
• Culture/Sex/Childbirth (Spring 2025)

University of Texas at San Antonio (Undergraduate)

• Dungeons & Dragons: An Academic Adventure, Honors College (2 sections, Fall 2020)
• Risk, Society, and Culture, Independent Study (Fall 2020)
• Social Justice in American Medicine, Independent Study (Spring 2020)
• The Civic Ethos, Honors College (Fall 2019, 8 sections Spring 2020)
• Tutorial I: Justice, Honors College (2 sections, Fall 2019)
• Anthropology of Biomedicine (Fall 2017)
• Sex, Gender, and Culture (Summer 2014)
• Kinship and Social Organization (Spring 2014)
• Introduction to Cultural Anthropology (Spring 2014)
• Introduction to (Four-Field) Anthropology (Fall 2013)
• Language, Thought, and Culture (2 sections, Fall 2012)

University of Arizona (Undergraduate)

• Women's Health in Global Perspective (Summer 2017, 2018)

Student Mentoring (Current)

• PhD Committee Chair: Quinn Houlihan (UofM SUAPP)
• PhD Committee Member: Lacie Allen-Bey (UTSA Anthropology), Krista Wright Thayer (UofM SUAPP)
• Master's Practicum Committee Chair: Luis Garcia (2028), Emily Moon (2027), Maddy Nase (2027)
• Master's Practicum Committee Member: Lennox Heywood Le Vine-Miller (2027)

Student Mentoring (Past/Graduated)

• PhD Committee Member: Diana Humble (UofM Communication 2026), "Illuminating the Experiences of Women Formerly in Romantic Relationships with Manosphere Men"
• Master's Practicum Committee Chair: William Babcock (2026), Emma Gilleland (2025), Quinn Houlihan (2024)
• Master's Practicum Committee Member: Amaree Austin, Lydia Babcock, Sharlecia Blue, Mary Carnes, Trinity Chism, Ryan Demato, Lily Johnson, Mary Moore, Crys Riles, Sally Zebrick (UofM Anthropology, 2021–2026)
• Master's Comprehensive Exam Committee Member: Allison Benoit (UofM History 2022)
• Undergraduate Honors Thesis Advisor: Enrique Iglesias (UTSA Honors College 2022)
• Other Mentoring: Macy Clanton (Helen Hardin Honors College Fellowship); Manu Macedo Lamana (Vanderbilt, Robert Penn Warren Center); Daisy Paredes (UTSA McNair Scholars Program)

Other Teaching Activities

• Arts & Health Applied/Engaged Research Field School (Summer 2025, 2026), collaborative field school with UTSA Honors College.
• Pathway to the Health Professions, UTSA (Summer 2016, 2017), funded by HCOP through US Department of Health and Human Services.

• 2020 — Andrew William Amann, Jr. Dissertation Award, University of Arizona. $10,000.
• 2019 — Summer Dissertation Fellowship, University of Arizona. $6,000.
• 2019 — Graduate College Fellowship (spring), University of Arizona. $2,500.
• 2015 — Emil W. Haury Educational Fund Scholarship, University of Arizona. $500.
• 2014 — 50 Best Cultural Anthropology Dissertations 2013, Anthropologyworks.
• 2013 — University Graduate Student Teaching Award, UTSA.
• 2012 — Meritorious Achievement Award for Graduate Students in Anthropology, UTSA. $1,000.
• 2010 — First Place, Undergraduate Research Paper, COLFA Spring Research Conference, UTSA.

• Principal Investigator (2025–Present) — Camp Resistance: Queer Resilience, Care, and Joy in Necropolitical Times. Engaged ethnographic project on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and drag performance as community service in Memphis.
• Co-Principal Investigator with Jill Fleuriet (2024–Present) — Creativity, Connectivity, and Care. Applied work with arts community partners in Memphis and San Antonio.
• Co-Principal Investigator with Lindsey Feldman (2022–2024) — Queer Carceral Care: An Engaged Ethnography on LGBTQ+ Health and Life After Release from Prison, with The Haven, Memphis.
• Principal Investigator (2018–2019) — Dissertation Research at Anal Dysplasia Clinic-MidWest, Chicago, IL.
• Research Assistant (2018–2019) — The ANCHOR Study (Anal Cancer HSIL Outcomes Research Clinical Trial), ADC-MidWest, Chicago, IL.
• Graduate Research Assistant, Qualitative Data Manager (2014–2016) — RxHL: Medical Adherence, Health Literacy, and Cultural Health Beliefs, PI Susan J. Shaw, Tucson, AZ.
• Research Assistant/Coordinator (2011–2013) — Qualitative Examination of LGBT Physician and Medical Student Experiences, PI Craig Klugman, San Antonio, TX.

• GIV: Gender In_Visibilities (2024–Present) — Consult and advise on a large European Collaborative Research Centre grant with 9 international PIs.

Conference Session Organization

• 2026 — Connectivity, Community, and Care: Reflections on Arts & Health Field School. Co-organizer with Jill Fleuriet. SfAA, Albuquerque, NM.
• 2026 — Toward an Anthropology of Joy. Co-organizer with Emma Bunkley. SfAA, Albuquerque, NM.
• 2025 — Transgender Rights Under Siege. Roundtable co-organizer with Nolan Kline. AAA, New Orleans, LA.
• 2025 — Engaged Anthropology: Illuminating the Crevices of Urban Inequalities. Session chair. AAA, New Orleans, LA.
• 2025 — Revitalizing Applied Anthropology through Field Schools. Roundtable co-organizer with Jill Fleuriet. SfAA, Portland, OR.
• 2023 — Queer & Trans Imprisonment & Confinement. Roundtable co-organizer with Lindsey Feldman. SfAA, Cincinnati, OH.
• 2023 — Diversifying Bodily Donations. Roundtable co-organizer with Shana Hughes. SfAA, Cincinnati, OH.
• 2022 — Therapeutic Landscapes: The (Un)Making of Clinical and Healing Spaces. Co-organizer with Jessica M. Reid. AAA, Seattle, WA.
• 2021 — Responsibility, Risk, and Care. Co-organizer with Daisy Paredes. AAA, Baltimore, MD.

Paper Presentations

• 2024 — Engaged Clinical Ethnography: Trans Health Activism as a Case Study. SfAA, Santa Fe, NM.
• 2022 — Anal Cancer Prevention: A Case Study in Bordering Sex/Gender and Sexuality. SfAA, Salt Lake City, UT.
• 2020 — Caring About/Caring For: Theories of Care from a Clinical Trial. SfAA, Albuquerque, NM.
• 2019 — The Butt of the Joke: Humor at an Anal Dysplasia Clinic. AAA, Vancouver, BC.
• 2016 — A Call for a Medical Anthropology of Human Papillomavirus (with Nolan Kline). AAA, Minneapolis, MN.
• 2016 — "Believe It or Not": The Medical Framing of Rectal Foreign Bodies. Queer(ing) Arizona Graduate Conference, Tucson, AZ.
• 2014 — The Irrelevance Narrative: Queer (In)Visibility in Medical Education and Practice. AAA, Washington, D.C.
• 2010 — Queer Pop: Heteronormativity and Queer Commodification in American Popular Culture. COLFA Conference, UTSA.

Poster Presentations

• 2024 — A Qualitative Analysis of Care, Stigma, and Wellbeing for Individuals Recently Released from Imprisonment. SfAA, Santa Fe, NM.
• 2024 — Queer Carceral Care: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Health and Care for People Recently Released from Imprisonment. SfAA, Santa Fe, NM.
• 2019 — The Syndemic of HPV-related Anal Disease and Environments of Risk Among HIV+ Transgender Women. SfAA, Portland, OR.
• 2016 — Medication Adherence, Health Literacy, and Cultural Beliefs (RxHL) Study. UMCCTS Community Engagement and Research Symposium, Worcester, MA.

Invited Talks & Presentations

• 2026 — Camp Resistance: Drag, Humor, and Care in Necropolitical Times. Mississippi State University.
• 2026 — Camp Resistance: Drag, Humor, and Care in Necropolitical Times. UT San Antonio Department of Anthropology.
• 2025 — Camp Resistance: Drag, Queer Care, and Resilience in Necropolitical Times. Vanderbilt University.
• 2024 — Carceral Environments of Risk. UC Denver Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences.
• 2023 — Care, Carcerality, and Sexual Health in Memphis, TN. UofM School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy Fall Research Forum.
• 2022 — Dirt and Care: Queer Care in an Anal Dysplasia Clinic. University of Oxford virtual seminar series.
• 2021 — Medical Education as Socialization. The Pre-Medical Society at UTSA.

Guest Lectures

• 2024 — Queer and Trans Theory. Master Class, CU Denver Department of Health & Behavioral Sciences.
• 2023 — Clinical Ethnography. Methods in Anthropology (graduate level).
• 2021 — Medical Anthropology and Clinical Ethnography. School of Communication Sciences and Disorders Seminar, University of Memphis.

Public Engagement

• 2024 — PrEPPED: Sex, Stigma, Science and the South Podcast, Season 5. reFocus Podcast, hosted by The Haven, Memphis, TN.
• 2023 — Queering Disasters Podcast, episode 5. San Jose State University Department of Anthropology.

Scholarly

• Editorial Board: Arizona Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (2015–2016)
• Peer Reviewer: Journal of Medical Humanities, Social Science & Medicine (14 reviews), BMJ Public Health, Human Organization, Journal of Homosexuality, Medicine Anthropology Theory, and others (2018–2026)

Departmental (University of Memphis)

• 2025– Urban Affairs PhD, Anthropology Representative
• 2021–2025 Diversity and Inclusion Committee Member
• 2024 Department Chair Search Committee Member
• 2022–2023 Medical Anthropology Faculty Search Committee Member
• 2021–2022 Faculty Advisor for Anthropology Club
• 2021–2022 Library Liaison

University (University of Memphis)

• 2025– Institute of Arts & Health Steering Committee
• 2024–2025 Faculty Senator
• 2024– Pride & Equity Alliance Steering Committee
• 2024 College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Research Grant Reviewer
• 2023– Women & Gender Studies Advisory Board

Discipline

• 2025– Malinowski Award Committee Member, SfAA
• 2024– Human Sexuality & Anthropology Interest Group (HSAIG) Convener/Chair
• 2022–2023 Annual Meeting Program Organization Committee, SfAA, Cincinnati

• Society for Applied Anthropology
• American Anthropological Association
• Society for Medical Anthropology
• Association for Queer Anthropology
• Association of Feminist Anthropologists
• Human Sexuality & Anthropology Interest Group
• Society for the Anthropology of North America
• American Association for the History of Medicine
• Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society (lifetime membership)