Dr. Emily Mendenhall is a medical anthropologist and Professor at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She has published widely at the boundaries of anthropology, psychology, medicine, and public health. Her newest book is called, Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long Covid, which will be released in fall 2025. Physician and author Dr. Wes Ely commented on the book: “As a sleuth and storyteller, Mendenhall looks behind the curtain at the little-know backstory of how the medical community has, for way too long, delegitimized a set of 'invisible' diseases that have wreaked havoc on untold thousands of lives over the decades.” Anthropologist and therapist Rebecca Lester reviewed, “Meticulously researched and exquisitely argued, Invisible Illness illuminates how biomedicine’s struggle with ambiguity leaves suffering patients paying the price.” Feminist anthropologist Rayna Rapp wrote, “Cuts a crystal-clear path through the thicket of diagnostic loose ends and symptom-shifters surrounding complex chronic conditions.”
