Jessica Ramirez is a PhD student in cultural and medical anthropology advised by Dr. Elana Buch. She received a Bachelor of Science in Anthropology with a minor in Biology from Texas State University in 2021 and a Master of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2024. Her work explores the relationship between local ideologies of kinship and care and bureaucratized care regulations in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas.