Claudia J. Ford

I like to tell people that the Ph.D. after my name stands for Pretty Hot Dame. I am an academic, activist, and artist. I am an ethnobotanist, a writer, and a midwife. I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, and I started working in women’s health when I was 19 years old.
I have been a women’s health specialist in the United States and around the globe while, as a single mother, schlepping my four children along who have been educated in 12 different countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. My educational background is in Biology, and Health Administration, I have a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies, and I have an MFA in Writing. I have taught at a dozen universities in the US and abroad. I have published a book, numerous articles, and have an active visual arts studio and music practice. I am committed to working in environmental studies for many reasons; one of them is the interdisciplinary nature, the interdisciplinary necessity o the field. I aspire to be a spiritually directed transdisciplinary thinker, teacher, and public scholar. I am seeking to better understand the intersections of justice and the sacred.