J. Michael Ryan, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of sociology at Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan. He has previously held academic positions in Portugal, Egypt, Ecuador, and the United States of America. Before returning to academia, Dr. Ryan worked as a research methodologist at the National Center for Health Statistics in Washington, D.C. He is the editor of multiple volumes, including Trans Lives in a Globalizing World: Rights, Identities, and Politics (Routledge 2020), Core Concepts in Sociology (Wiley 2019), and Gender in the Middle East and North Africa:Contemporary Issues and Challenges (Lynne-Rienner 2020).
"""As the world is caught up in a whirlwind of multiple crises – health, social, ecological, political – this is one of the first books that invite us to think creatively and analytically about COVID-19. A cutting-edge and comprehensive overview on the challenges we are facing. One can draw the conclusion that it is essential to incorporate a sociological view on health and illness when this pandemic sits where natural and cultural realities intersect. It is not about medical sociology but sociology tout court. These two volumes are compelling, timely and powerfully intelligent reading as books (and textbooks)."" Dr. Sari Hanafi, President, International Sociological Association"