Credentials
Education
B.A. Amherst College, Sociology (Phi Beta Kappa; Magna cum Laude)
M.A. Tufts University, Educational Studies (Areas: Race, Class, Gender & Disability)
Ph.D. Boston College, Sociology (Areas: Medical Sociology & Sociology of Education)
Selected Awards
Donald White Teaching Excellence Award
Severyn Bruyn Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Social Justice
Presidential Fellowship
Certifications & Trainings
Explain Pain 13 week course with Lorimer Moseley and the NOI Group - In Progress
Level 2 Advanced Certification in Pain Reprocessing Therapy - Pain Psychology Center (November 2023)
Certification as a Health & Wellness Coach via NBHWC-Accredited Take Courage Coaching now known as Override Health (May 2022)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) & Chronic Pain class with Dick Schwartz (July 2021)
Pain Reprocessing Therapy Certification - Yoni Ashar, Daniella Deutsch, Alan Gordon (June 2021)
Freedom from Chronic Pain Training (incl. Emotional Awareness & Expressiveness Therapy training) - Dr. Howard Schubiner & Hal Greenham (December 2020)
Power of Awareness Course - Mindfulness Meditation Training with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield (August 2020)
Curable Groups 12 Week Healing Bootcamp - Curable Health (Spring 2019)
Stress Management and Resiliency Training (SMART) Program - Benson Henry Institute (Summer 2018)
Certification as Master Tutor & Academic Coach - College Reading & Learning Association (2013)
Qualitative Interviewer Training - Dana Farber Cancer Institute (2009)
Training in Teaching Methods, Pedagogical Philosophy, Qualitative Interviewing - Boston College (2003-2013)
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program - UMass Medical-Worcester (1995)
Related Publications
Birk, Lara B. 2013. “Erasure of the Credible Subject: An Autoethnographic Account of Chronic Pain.” Cultural Studies - Critical Methodologies 13:5. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Karp, David A. and Lara B. Birk. 2013. “Listening to Voices: Patient Experience and the Meaning of Mental Illness.” Pp 23-40 in Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health, Second Edition, Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research, edited by Carol S. Aneshensel, Jo Phelan, and Alex Bierman. New York, NY: Springer.
Birk, Lara. 2007. “The Listening Room.” Pp. 35-38 in Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies, edited by Sayantani Das Gupta and Marsha Hurst. Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press.
