Merrill Singer , PhD, a medical and cultural anthropologist, is a Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Community Medicine at the University of Connecticut, USA as well as a faculty member at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University. Over his career, his research and writing have focused on HIV/AIDS in highly vulnerable and disadvantaged populations, illicit drug use and drinking behavior, community and structural violence, health disparities, and the political ecology of health. His current research focuses on the nature and impact of both syndemics (interacting epidemics) and pluralea (intersecting ecocrises) on health. Dr. Singer has published over 265 scholarly articles and book chapters and has authored or edited 29 books. He is a recipient of the Rudolph Virchow Prize, the George Foster Memorial Award for Practicing Anthropology, the AIDS and Anthropology Paper Prize, the Prize for Distinguished Achievement in the Critical Study of North America, the Solon T. Kimball Award for Public and Applied Anthropology, and the AIDS and Anthropology Research Group's Distinguished Service Award.