Nat Kendall-Taylor PhD

FrameWorks Institute
Chief Executive Officer


Dr. Nat Kendall-Taylor is a Senior Associate and Project Director with the FrameWorks Institute. In this role, he employs social science theory and research methods from anthropology to improve the ability of public policy to positively influence health and social issues. This involves studying how cognitive theory can be applied in understanding how people interpret information and make meaning of their social worlds. 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, Dr. Kendall-Taylor 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 in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan and has conducted ethnographic research on motivation in “extreme” athletes. Dr. Kendall-Taylor has a BA from Emory University and Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of California Los Angeles.