Sharon Watson

Sharon Watson

Assistant Professor
704-687-5660
Barnard 246

Profile: Sharon Elizabeth Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UNC Charlotte. As a medical anthropologist, Dr. Watson’s research most broadly examines how what we know, through scientific research about health, makes its way into real life changes and policies. Her work contributes to the goals of implementation and dissemination research in exploring how we can improve the translation of research into practice. In synthesizing her Public Health MA and Ph.D. in Anthropology, she uses data analysis and strategic partnerships to focus on real-world applications locally and globally. Through community-engaged research, she connects students and diverse stakeholders in collaborating on solutions to evolving needs across a variety of contexts, including technology, healthcare, nonprofits, and businesses. She has 20 years of experience in academic and applied settings and has employed her toolset in ethics, epidemiology, qualitative, and quantitative methods on numerous collaborative private and public projects. She maintains lines of research in the U.S., Sardinia, and Southern Africa.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., University of South Florida-Department of Anthropology 2017

MPH, University of South Florida-College of Public Health 2006

B.A., University of Notre Dame- Anthropology and Arts and Letters Pre-Professional 2002

TEACHING:

  • Theory in Social & Cultural Anthropology (graduate)
  • Proposal Writing in Anthropology (graduate)
  • An Introduction to Engaged and Applied Anthropology (undergraduate)
  • Engaging the Human Experience: Applying Anthropology in Life and Work
  • Seminar in Medical Anthropology (graduate)
  • Seminar in Applied Anthropology (graduate)
  • Money, Health, and Happiness: Ethical and Cultural Critique: Issues of Health and Quality of Life (undergraduate)
  • Cross-Cultural Health Issues (graduate)
  • Introduction to Anthropology (four field, undergraduate)
  • Human Sexuality (undergraduate teaching assistant-section instructor)
  • Biological Anthropology (teaching assistant)

RESEARCH INTERESTS/AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

Ethics, applied anthropology, development studies, medical anthropology, implementation & dissemination, HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, cultural aspects of health, participatory action research, community health, program planning and evaluation, health policy and management, health systems, work, social & economic mobility.

AWARDS/HONORS/GRANTS:

  • CW Williams Community Health Center. “Empowering Minority Mothers to Believe and Receive Access to Care Equity (EMMBRACE),” contract for resource mapping project ($50,676) (PI) Nicole Peterson (co-I) Sharon Watson 2024-2025
  • Research in Ethics and HIV Training Fellowship, Fordham University, 2023-2025 ($32,364.36)
  • James H. Woodward Faculty Research Award (2022-2023) from UNC Charlotte Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
  • Women + Girls Research Alliance (W+GRA), UNC Charlotte UrbanCore, 2023 ($5,000)“Integrating Staff Perspectives into Economic Mobility Program Planning & Evaluation”
  • Master’s and Early Doctoral Student Summer Support, UNC Charlotte Graduate School, 2023 ($10,000)
  • Co-PI, Gambrell Faculty Fellowship sponsored by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute and funded by The Gambrell Foundation, ($15,000) “Enhancing Capacity in Place-Based Initiatives to Use Data to Promote and Measure Economic Mobility “(PI) Andrew Case and (co-PI) Sharon Watson (08/15/2021-12/15/23)
  • Co-PI, Ignite Planning Grant UNC Charlotte Research and Economic Development, 2020-2022 ($82,402) “The impact of place-based initiatives on social and economic mobility: A project of the Social Aspects of Health Initiative (SAHI) interdisciplinary team.” Ryan Kilmer (PI); Zinobia Bennefield, Andrew Case, James R. Cook, Joseph Kangmennaang, Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Stephanie Potochnick, Victoria Scott, and Sharon Watson. Funding period (03/01/2020 to 02/28/2022)
  • Scholarship of Assessment Grant, UNC Charlotte Office of Assessment and Accreditation 2020 ($1000)

SELECT PUBLICATIONS:

2026:

Watson, S, Mpemi, R., Masilo, M.,Mathe L., Molapo, T., Hlao-Morobela, M.,  and C. Fisher. “Once every patient is enrolled into the system, it means data can run itself”: Health provider perspectives on global health diplomacy, data sensitivity, and electronic health information. Social Science and Medicine-Qualitative Health Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmqr.2026.100806

Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J, Watson, S, Ersoff M*, Worsley, J*, Kroll, B., and Hollenhead, J. Helping Financially Under-resourced Unmarried Mothers Move Forward and Flourish: Feasibility Findings from an Innovative Coaching-Centered Place-Based Initiative. American Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.70087

Ersoff, M*, Watson, S, Kilmer, PR, & Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J. What it takes in contexts of chronic traumas: Designing place-based programs for social capital, community resilience, and economic mobility. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.70113

Butts SJ*, Thompson ME, Hopper LN, Watson SE, Kim SY and Lewis JB. Preconception Care Receipt and Prepregnancy Hypertension Among Black Women in the United States: 2016-2021. Journal of Women’s Health. doi:10.1177/15409996261432062 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41840350/

2025:

Spinner, C*., Hopper, L. N., Watson, S., Lewis, J. B., Dulin, M. A scoping review of factors associated with cesarean birth among Black women in the United States. Journal of Health Equity, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/29944694.2025.2541620

Spinner, C*, Hopper, L, Watson, S, Lewis, J, and Dulin, M. The Association Between Experiencing Racial Discrimination and Delivery Method Among Women in the United States, PRAMS 2016–2021. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-025-02572-w

2024:

Hawkins, SC, Eldridge, ER, and Watson, S. King and firefighter syndrome: Disaster response goes beyond the front lines. MedPage Today. https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/113529

2023:

Watson, S, Potochnick, S, Case, A, Cole, J, Whitlow, C, Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J, Scott, V, McDonald, Jr, W, Capers, T, Beavers, H and Kilmer, R. ‘Can You Put Down Your Mission and Plug into Mine?’ How Place-Based Initiatives Leverage Collaborations with Academic Institutions to Enhance Their ABCD and CBR Potential. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, Article ID 8671. http:dx.doi.org/10.5130/ijcre.v16i2.8671

2022:

Watson, SE. ‘Don’t cross the line, you’re a researcher and not an educator’: Incorporating indigenous researchers’ moral perspectives to improve ethical protocols in health research. Social Science and Medicine 315: 115503 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115503.

Watson, SE. Getting the questions on the guide, race, and racism in evaluation. Practicing Anthropology 44 (3):13-19. https://doi.org/10.17730/0888-4552.44.3.13

2021:

Lai, L, and Watson, S. Sardinian Lives Matter: Dynamics and Reactions in an Italian Internal Colony. Anthropological Journal of European Cultures 30 (2): 123-131. https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2021.300209

2019:

Watson, SE. “AIDS is everyone’s business”: Pharmaceuticals, international power plays, TRIPS, and the Fast-Track. In Baxerres, C. Marquis, C. (coord.) Régulations, Marchés, Santé : interroger les enjeux actuels du médicament en Afrique / Regulations, Markets, Health: questioning current stakes of pharmaceuticals in Africa, Mar 2018, Ouidah, Bénin. 2018. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01988227

2016:

MacQueen, KM, Dlamini, S, Perry, B, Okumu, E, Sortijas, S, Singh, C, Pillay, D, Majors, A, Jerome, S, Watson, S, Karim, SA, Karim, QA, and Mansoor LE. Social Context of Adherence in an Open-Label 1% Tenofovir Gel Trial: Gender Dynamics and Disclosure in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. AIDS and Behavior, November 2016, 20 (11): 2682-2691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1339-4

2013:

Hildebrand, M, Ahumada, C, and Watson, S. CrowdOutAIDS: crowdsourcing youth perspectives for action. Reproductive Health Matters, 21 (41):57-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0968-8080(13)41687-7

2009:

Himmelgreen, DA, Romero-Daza, N, Turkon, D, Watson, S, Okello-Uma, I, and Sellen, D. Addressing the HIV/AIDS-Food Insecurity Syndemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. African Journal of AIDS Research, 8 (4):401-412. https://doi.org/10.2989/AJAR.2009.8.4.4.1041

2008:

Watson Lai, S, Mpemi, R, Romero-Daza, N, Himmelgreen, D, and Okello-Uma, I. Ethical but Unfunded? Planning HIV Mitigation in Lesotho. Practicing Anthropology 30(4):13-16. 10.17730/praa.30.4.641678004v6782x7

2005:

Davis-Salazar, K, and Watson, S. “The Group Research Poster as a Method of Student Inquiry in Large Classes”. In Strategies in Teaching Anthropology, 3rd Edition. Rice, P and Mcurdy, D (eds). NJ :Prentice-Hall.