Mayling Elizabeth Simpson

Mayling Simpson is a cultural anthropologist who has specialized in global public health issues and conducted original research in Ireland, Iran, the Philippines, and Serbia. During her career, she served several years as a Senior Technical Advisor to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and as a Senior Technical Health Advisor to Catholic Relief Services in East Africa while living in Ethiopia and Kenya. Between those two jobs, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Belgrade, Serbia, where she taught at the University of Belgrade and conducted research on Roma waste recyclers. She has lived in eight foreign countries and worked in many more. She has been a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, UNICEF, and the Stockholm Environment Institute on water and sanitation issues. Her published works include A Paper Life: Belgrade's Roma in the Underworld of Waste Scavenging and Recycling, Ecological Sanitation, and "Mrs. Nickel Pickle," winner of an Aspen Times short story contest. 

She earned her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her B.A. in Biology from Longwood University in Farmville, Va. In 2017, Dr. Simpson was the recipient of Longwood University's prestigious humanitarian award. She currently lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, with her husband and near her two married children and three grandchildren.