Dr. Jad Brake earned his PhD in Medical Anthropology in November 2023. We took a minute to catch up with him to find out what he has been up to since graduation.
Q: Tell us about what you have been up to since graduation
A: In November 2023, I graduated from the Department of Anthropology at UBC where I earned my PhD in medical anthropology. My work, supervised by Dr. William McKellin, has focused on the lived experiences of autistic adults in British Columbia, specifically their social interactions and friendships. After graduation, I continued my association with UBC through the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, where I previously held a fellowship as a graduate student. My fellowship research examined the ethics of conducting research with autistic individuals and was translated into a published paper on the topic (see below).
Q: What is the current focus of your research?
A: Currently, I am involved in multiple projects. As a co-investigator, I am collaborating with Dr. Anita Ho from the School of Population and Public health on a research project that explores the ethical implications of using AI-powered predictive models in end-of-life care. At the same time, I am continuing to build on my PhD research by publishing papers on autism (see below) and contributing to the understanding of social relationships and sensory experiences among autistic adults.
Further, recently, I have also been engaged in teaching anthropology. I taught the Vancouver Summer Program (VSP) course “Culture and Communication” last summer and this summer. Currently, I teach Introduction to Cultural
Q: What’s next for you?
A: Looking ahead, I have applied for a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship, where I plan to focus on the experiences of autistic adults in engaging with AI-powered conversational agents, such as chatbots/virtual assistants/robots etc. This project will be conducted under the supervision of a sociologist at Columbia University, alongside two UBC researchers, and will involve collaboration with autistic individuals who will play an active role in shaping and carrying out the research. I am passionate about the intersection of neurodiversity, disability, technology, ethics, and human-machine interaction, and I aim to contribute to advancing these fields through anthropological and social research.
Publications:
Brake, Jad. (2024). “My struggles are largely sensory processing:” The sensory world of autistic people.” Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2024.2382108
Brake, Jad. (2024). Between gaining acceptance and avoiding harm: Navigating stigma and its consequences among autistic individuals. Disability & Society, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2024.2374491
Brake, Jad., Cox, Susan., & Palmer, Pamela. (2024). Recognizing past and present experiences: Moving toward a person-oriented and trauma-informed approach to autism research. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 26(1): 477-491 https://sjdr.se/articles/10.16993/sjdr.1102
Ho, A., Brake, J., Palmer, A., & Binkley, C. (2024). A Holistic, Multi-Level, and Integrative Ethical Approach to Developing Machine Learning-Driven Decision Aids. The American Journal of Bioethics. 24(9), 110–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2377104
