Francesco Fritz joins the PhD program in German Studies in the Fall of 2025. His research interests stretch across the medical humanities, new media, translation studies, and critical theory. His work draws on his literary studies, his clinical work as a medical doctor for the Berlin AIDS Foundation, and fieldwork in Latin America, where he investigated the provision of psychiatric care and the mental health of incarcerated populations. At Berkeley, he aims to connect multilingual narratives of illness with new media forms, examining how shifting textual landscapes shape literary production, clinical frameworks, and conceptions of self.
Francesco studied Comparative Literature and Philosophy at Columbia University and the Free University of Berlin, from which he obtained his BA. He also holds a medical degree following his clinical studies at Charité Medical School in Berlin and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He later obtained a research doctorate from Charité for his work on suicide risk among incarcerated individuals in South America.
