Before deciding to study Philosophy and History of Art, Ursula Schneider went to Quito, Ecuador for a three-month stay, including an internship in a public hospital, to get a more detailed impression of the way people from another culture live. After completing these studies in 2009, she continued working in a contemporary art gallery while also completing an internship with a medical practitioner and in a German hospital. Her interests in the role of communication and interaction between patient and doctor, and their influences on the mental well-being of patients, were also reasons that led her to search for further studies. Medical Anthropology seems to offer the best possibility for focusing on health in different cultural environments. More specifically, she is interested in general perceptions of health, reproductive and mental health, and health seeking behaviour. Ursula's M.A. thesis is entitled "Tailoring a cultural costume for a global disease: Dialectics on the process of demedicalization and shifting roles of AIDS in a street performance in Uttarakhand, India".
