Ben Weiss

Ben Weiss is a PhD candidate in the African History program at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also completed his undergraduate degree in History, Government, and African Development Studies. His research interests include HIV/AIDS, economic development, foreign aid and investment, health monitoring systems, and pharmaceutical supply networks. He has been active in academic conference attendance, coordinated several successful conferences on Africa-related topics, and has published scholarship on a wide range of themes. His dissertation aims to understand the colonial history of STD surveillance and treatment in southern Africa in order to contextualize more contemporary responses to early HIV/AIDS histories in the same area through the work of a diverse range of postcolonial theorists. He hopes that this effort will provide him the educational background to pursue a career formulating effective policy strategies for HIV/AIDS relief in Africa.