This week’s speaker, Michelle Anne Parsons, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, NAU, will be speaking about how recent epidemiology has uncovered rising mortality among middle-aged non-Hispanic whites in the US.  Epidemiologists have advocated smaller studies of specific social contexts. Yavapai County in Arizona has one of the highest mid-life suicide rates among non-Hispanic whites in the US.  This presentation will discuss how medical anthropology on social distress in Yavapai County may help us better understand the context of rising mortality.