Rachel Hodapp

Rachel
Hodapp

Assistant Professor of Social Work
Human Behav, Justice & Divsty
Social Work
Email:
Office: Swenson Hall 3111

Rachel is a medical anthropologist, social scientist, licensed advanced practice medical social worker, and higher education instructor. She has taught several undergraduate and graduate-level courses in social work, anthropology, African cultural studies, history, and education.

Her research expertise spans locations, methods, and foci, from ethnographic work on menstrual care in Tanzania to mixed-methods studies on contraceptive access and measurement in Wisconsin. Rachel’s intellectual curiosities lie at the intersections of critical social work and cultural anthropology, reproductive well-being, menstruation studies, and feminist ethnography in East Africa and the United States.

She is committed to community-based participatory research and co-founded a nonprofit in Tanzania (Natopiwo) and a partner organization in the United States (Natopiwo Partners) to redistribute resources to Maasai communities, whom she has worked alongside for over 15 years.

Currently, Rachel is a member of the Collaborative for Reproductive Equity and the Contraceptive Autonomy Research Alliance (CARA) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These groups are working on various contraception and coercion projects in Wisconsin, East Africa, and Nepal. Finally, Rachel is a steering committee member in the Feminist Demography Collective.

Before earning her Ph.D., Rachel worked with several organizations, including AmeriCorps, the Project for Pride in Living, the International Red Cross, the University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation, the Waisman Center Community TIES, and the University of Colorado-Denver Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine.

She has collaborated on five National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trials and has developed a Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy intervention for critical care nurses with Burnout Syndrome, as well as a Motivational Interviewing intervention for critically ill people with Alcohol Use Disorder.

Publications

  • Hodapp, Rachel. (2025). Secret Bleeding, Social Care: Menstruation, Embodiment, and Reproduction in Tanzania. Dissertation. ProQuest.
  • Clark, Brendan; Hodapp, Rachel. (2017). The Experience of Patients with Alcohol Misuse after Surviving a Critical Illness. A Qualitative Study. Annals of the American Thoracic Society, 2017. Jul;14(7):1154-1161.
  • Clark BJ, Sorrell T, Hodapp RM, Reed K, Moss M, Aagaard L, Cook PF. (2019). Pilot Randomized Trial of a Recovery Navigator Program for Survivors of Critical Illness with Problematic Alcohol Use. Critical Care Explorations. Oct 14;1(10):e0051.
  • Mealer, M., Boeldt, D., Cochran, K., Hodapp, R., Forster, J., Conrad, D., … & Moss, M. (2021). A mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) intervention to improve resilience and mitigate symptoms of burnout syndrome in critical care nurses: Results of a randomized trial. Open Journal of Nursing, 11(8), 653-667.
  • Mealer, M., Hodapp, R., Conrad, D., Dimidjian, S., Rothbaum, B. O., & Moss, M. (2017). Designing a resilience program for critical care nurses. AACN advanced critical care, 28(4), 359-365.

Awards

  • 2025 – Collaborative for Reproductive Equity (CORE) Grant, University of Wisconsin-Madison  
  • 2023 – African Studies Program Teaching Fellowship
  • 2021 – Fulbright–Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Award
  • 2021 – Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Introductory Maasai
  • 2020 – Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Advanced Swahili
  • 2020 – Research Award, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison  
  • 2020 – Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Intermediate Swahili
  • 2020 – John T. Hitchcock Prize in Anthropology     
  • 2019 – Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS), Introductory Swahili
  • 2012 – CUR Social Science Travel Award, Luther College 
  • 2011 – McElroy Student/Faculty Collaborative Grant, Luther College

Education

  • 2025 – Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – Cultural Anthropology, Minor: African Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 2020 – Master of Arts (M.A.) – Cultural Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 2016 – Master of Social Work (M.S.W.), Concentration: Health, Aging, and Disability, University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 2013 – Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) – Psychology, Anthropology, Luther College