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 Partners) to directly redistribute resources to Maasai communities. Currently, Rachel is a member of the Contraceptive Autonomy Research Alliance (CARA) team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and they are working on various projects in Wisconsin, East Africa and Nepal.
Before earning her Ph.D., Rachel worked with several organizations, including AmeriCorps, Project for Pride in Living, International Red Cross, University of Wisconsin Organ and Tissue Donation, Waisman Center Community TIES, and 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