Claire E. Sterk holds joint appointments in the Department of Anthropology, Sociology, and Women's Studies.  Her primary responsibilities as a member of the Provost's Office are to coordinate academic planning and to manage faculty development activities such as the University Advisory Council on Teaching; internal funding for research and teaching; manuscript development; and mentoring. 

Her office also leads the Emory Strategic Plan initiative on strengthening faculty distinction, including its faculty distinction fund and the associated equipment fund.  Other duties include serving as a liaison between the Provost's Office and the University Senate and Faculty Council, coordinating faculty nominations and selections for prestigious professional awards, and participating in the review of promotion and tenure procedures.

Dr. Sterk holds degrees in anthropology and sociology.  She joined the Rollins School of Public Health in 1995 where she chaired the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education (2000-2005) and served as the school’s associate dean for research (2004-2005).  She contributes to the teaching mission of the school by teaching a course on qualitative research methods. Her teaching was recognized by her inclusion in Emory's Great Teachers Lecture Series (2000), her selection as the Mary Anne Morgan Lecturer in Women's Health (2002), and as a Distinguished Faculty Lecturer (2003).

Her primary research interests are addiction/mental health and HIV/AIDS, with a focus on women's issues, health disparities, and community-based behavioral interventions.  Specifically, she is interested in the intersection between the individual, community, and larger societal factors.  She has three single-authored books, including Vieze Kereltjes: Zedenpolitie en Vrouwen (Koninklijke Vermande, 1986), Fast Lives: Women Who Use Crack Cocaine (Temple University Press, 1999) and Tricking and Tripping: Prostitution during the Era of AIDS (Social Change Press, 2000).  In addition, she has published more than 100 articles and chapters in edited volumes.  She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Ethnicity and Substance Abuse and is a member of the National Advisory Council to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health.  She is a fellow of the Society for Applied Anthropology, was a recipient of the Thomas F. Seller Jr. Award of Public Health (1999), and was appointed as a Roselyn Carter Fellow in Public Policy (2003-2006).