Dr. Ruth Gibson

I am an academic whose work focuses on the interplay between geopolitics and human health. I believe that wars and political decisions between nations remain the most powerful forces shaping people's lives on the ground. My research centers on these critical tension points. My goal is for my research, writing, and role as a public intellectual to have a real-world impact—to influence policy while publishing in top-tier journals and reaching broader audiences through journalists and the media. I am based at Stanford University, and my perspective is informed by more than a decade of living in the very countries I now study. My work is anything but abstract: I examine war, sanctions, trade blockades, and war crimes, and their direct consequences for human lives—especially the lives of children.