His research concerns the social aspects of infectious diseases, with an ethnographic focus on northern and western India. His work on the biosocial aspects of leprosy and other socially stigmatized diseases can be found in, Aghor Medicine: Pollution, Death, ad Healing in Northern India (University of California Press), which was recently awarded the Wellcome Medal for Medical Anthropology by the Royal Anthropological Institute. His currently the primary investigator for an NSF-sponsored research on the relationship between social support networks and health-seeking for influenza-like illnesses in a western Indian slum community. Professor Barrett is co-editor of a textbook reader, Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology (McGraw Hill). He is also a registered nurse with clinical experience in hospice, neuro-intensive care, and brain injury rehabilitation.