Sad News
Merrill Singer, a contributing author to Urgent Care, died suddenly on May 3, 2025. An internationally recognized author of numerous books and peer reviewed articles as well as a principal investigator on many, many NIH grants, Merrill was the key creator of syndemics theory, a guiding theoretical lens used in health sciences today. In addition to his scholarly contributions, Merrill was widely known as a wonderful friend and mentor. As medical anthropologist, Charles Briggs, observed, “It is not always the case in academia that one finds a great head and a great heart in the same body. This was more than true for Merrill.”
You can read Merrill Singer’s contributions to Urgent Care using these links:
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It’s both humbling and sad to learn of Merrill Singer’s death just as I was beginning to explore one of his most important contributions: the concept of the syndemic.
Singer defined a syndemic as the clustering of two or more diseases in a population—where the conditions don’t just coexist, but interact biologically or behaviorally to worsen outcomes. And these interactions, he showed, are driven by larger social forces: poverty, racism, housing instability, environmental degradation.
As I was writing my book, I came to believe that most epidemics—whether of chronic disease, mental illness, or violence—aren’t isolated events. They’re the result or confluence of many overlapping risks, many of them rooted in social conditions. But I hadn’t yet encountered Singer’s work. Discovering it was both humbling and reassuring. It confirmed that what I had observed and intuited was part of a larger, well-developed framework.
It’s also a reminder of how many public health scientists make profound contributions without ever getting the recognition they deserve. Merrill Singer was one of those quiet giants. I wish I had found his work sooner. I’m grateful I found it at all.
This is a thoughtful and well stated acknowledgement of Merrill's work. I know he would be both humbled and very very pleased. His work is so important and will continue to guide research in anthropology and other health related disciplines. If you wish to learn more about him, I can share with you the link to his zoom memorial 5/18.