Professor van Eijk's research and teaching interests focus on understanding patterns of seeking, giving, and paying for care, in the United States and elsewhere. Using ethnographic methods, she investigates how different institutions in health care financing determine the price of human suffering in the United States. As part of this project, she studies the work of people, who are charged with preparing, processing, and paying for medical bills. These workers, such as medical assistants, coders, and medical billers, are central to the delivery of care, but little is known about the conditions under which they carry out their work, how they incorporate health reform policies in their work, and how their activities affects patients’ accessibility and affordability of care.

Research/Teaching Areas: Feminism and Feminist Theory, Global Health. Institutions, Queer Studies