APPOINTMENTS

Knology | Researcher

Health, Culture, & Media [May 2022 – Current]

New York University | Postdoctoral Research Fellow

The Institute for Public Knowledge [September 2020 – May 2022]

Stanford University | Research Consultant

Lemann Center for Educational Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Brazil [June 2020 – August 2021]

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Communication

University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism [May 2019]

Master of Arts in Communication

University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism [May 2016]

Bachelor of Arts in Communication

Northwestern University [June 2013]

Magna Cum Laude

RESEARCH AREAS

• Science, technology, and society (STS)
• Public health disasters
• Substance use and addiction
• Critical discourse analysis
• Ethnography
• Branding

PUBLICATIONS

Sherman, Melina, & Klinenberg, Eric. (2022). The First Wave: Moral Injury and Institutional Failure in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Under review.

Sherman, Melina, & Klinenberg, Eric. (2021). They Did This to Us: COVID-19 Narratives and Social Division in Facebook Groups. Under review at New Media & Society.

Klinenberg, Eric, & Sherman, Melina. (2021). Face Mask Face-Offs: Culture and Conflict in the Covid-19 Pandemic. Public Culture. 

Klinenberg, Eric, Cera, Michelle, Sherman, Melina, & Um, Sejin. (2021). The Meanings of Masks in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study of Brazil, Canada, South Korea, and the US. Under review at Social Forces.

Sherman, Melina. (2020). #HappyByNature: The Colonial Logics of Nation Branding in Brazil. Under review at New Media & Society.

Sherman, Melina. (2020). How We Hurt: Culture, Markets, and Pain in the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. Advance contract. Oxford University Press.

Sherman, Melina. (2017). Branding Pain Relief: Neoliberal Governance and the Restoration of the Self. Communication, Culture, Critique, 10(4), 593-608.

Sherman, Melina. (2017). Opiates for the Masses: Constructing a Market for Prescription (Pain)killers. Journal of Cultural Economy, 1-13.

Sherman, Melina. (2017). Addicted. Pregnant. Poor., by Kelly Knight. Medicine, Anthropology, Theory.

Glabau, Danya, Fiereck, Kirk, & Sherman, Melina. (2017). Biofinance: Speculation, Risk, Debt, and Value from Bios. Somatosphere.

Sherman, Melina. (2015). The Cultural Production of a Pharmaceutical Market: The Making of ADHD. International Journal ofCommunication, 9, 1-20.

Sherman, Melina. (2015). Chronic Youth: Disability, Sexuality, and U.S. Media Cultures of Rehabilitation by Julie Passanante Elman. International Journal of Communication, 9, 8-10.

Sherman, Melina. (2014). Venture Labor: Work and the Burden of Risk in Innovative Industries, by Gina Neff. International Journal of Communication, 8, 8-10.

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Sherman, M.A. (2018). How it Hurts: Examining the Cultural Politics of Pain in the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. American Anthropological Association. San Jose, CA.

Sherman, M.A. (2018). Experimenting with Life Itself: Digital Drug Worlds and the Transformation of the “Human”. Society for the Social Study of Science. Sydney, Australia.

Sherman, M.A. (2017). Branding Pain Relief: Restoring the Neoliberal Self in the Ongoing Opioid Epidemic. American Anthropological Association. Washington, D.C.

Sherman, M.A. (2017). Understanding the Opioid Epidemic: A Genealogical Analysis of Pain Management. Society for the Social Study of Science (4S). Boston, MA.

Sherman, M.A. (2016). When a Cure Becomes a Poison: Discourses of Consumption in the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. Society for Applied Anthropology. Santa Fe, NM.

Sherman, M.A. (2016). Biofinancial Investments and Disinvestments: Examining the U.S. Opioid Epidemic. American Anthropological Association. Minneapolis, MN.

Sherman, M.A. (2015). Mother’s Little Helper: On the Cultural Production of a Market for Anti- Depressants. National Communication Association. Las Vegas, NV.

Sherman, M.A. (2015). Methylphenidate Moms: The Problem with Speed. Society for the Social Study of Science (4S). Denver, CO.

Sherman, M.A. (2015). The Cultural Production of a Pharmaceutical Market. Cultural Studies Association. Riverside, CA.

Sherman, M.A. (2015). The Cultural Production of a Pharmaceutical Market: The Making of ADHD. Popular Culture Association Conference. New Orleans, LA.

Sherman, M.A. (2013). Dancing Alone, Together: Agency and Remediation inside a ‘Music Scene for Bros’. Graduate Communication Forum Conference. Pennsylvania State University, PA.

Sherman, M.A. (2013). Dancing Alone, Together: A Gendered and Sexual Politics of Visibility inside a ‘Music Scene for Bros’. Cultural Studies Association Conference. Chicago, IL.

TEACHING

Communication, Technology, and Culture [COMM 339]

University of Southern California [Fall 2018; Fall 2017]

Communication and Culture [COMM 206]

University of Southern California [Spring 2018; Spring 2017; Fall 2014]

Communication and Technology [COMM 202]

University of Southern California [Spring 2016]

Sound Clash: Communication and Popular Music [COMM 307]

University of Southern California [Fall 2016]

Sports, Communication and Culture [COMM 383]

University of Southern California [Fall 2015]

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

USC Dornsife – Berggruen Institute Project on the Transformation of the Human

• The Science, Technology, and Public Life Initiative
• Project Coordinator [2018 – 2019]

Portuguese language immersive course

• University of California Los Angeles [Fall 2018]

Spanish language intensive course

• Universitat de Barcelona [Summer 2016]

Writing for Publication Seminar

• University of Southern California [Spring 2014]

Annenberg Summer Inter-School Seminars in digital ethnography and discourse analysis

• University of Southern California [Summer 2014]

English 33000, Professional Writing Seminar

• University of Chicago [Summer 2013]

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

Vice-President, Annenberg School of Communication Graduate Association [2014 – 2015 Term]

AWARDS AND HONORS

Magna Cum Laude, Northwestern University

Departmental Excellence in Communication Studies, Northwestern University

Lambda Pi Eta, Northwestern University

LANGUAGE SKILLS

English: Native language

Portuguese: Fluent (Advanced Superior level) certified by the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Spanish: Fluent (Advanced Superior level) certified by the Universitat de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.