Nat Kendall-Taylor is Vice President for Research at the Institute. In this role, he employs social science theory and research methods from anthropology to improve the ability of researchers, advocates and practitioners to improve social outcomes. This involves applying cognitive theory in understanding how people interpret information and make meaning of their social worlds and how frames can be used to create new ways of understanding social and scientific issues. At FrameWorks, Nat leads a multi-disciplinary team of social scientists in studying public understanding and exploring ways to reframe such pressing issues as criminal justice reform, immigration, taxation, early childhood development, addiction, environmental health, education, public health and climate change. He presents findings and recommendations from this work through workshops, formal presentations, working papers and in peer-reviewed journals including Science Communication, Human Organization, Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Annals of Anthropological Practice. His past research has focused on child and family health and in understanding the social and cultural factors that create health disparities and affect decision-making. As a medical anthropologist, Nat has conducted fieldwork on the coast of Kenya studying pediatric epilepsy and the impacts of chronic illness on family well-being. He has also applied social science methods in research on child marriage in Azerbaijan and higher education in Kazakhstan and has conducted ethnographic research on theories of motivation in "extreme" athletes. Nat has a B.A. from Emory University and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles.

nkendall-taylor@frameworksinstitute.org