Kristi Upson-Saia

Kristi Upson-Saia is a Historian of Late Antiquity. She holds the David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professorship in Religion at Occidental College, Los Angeles, California. She specialises in the history of medicine, health and healing, and religions in the late ancient Mediterranean.

Education Upson-Saia was awarded her PhD from Duke University in 2006. Her doctoral thesis was entitled Making An Appearance: Sexual Renunciation and Gender Revision in the Attire of Early Christian Female Ascetics. Her doctoral project was supervised by Elizabeth A. Clark.

Career and research Upson-Saia published two books on dress studies, a monograph, Early Christian Dress: Gender, Virtue and Authority (Routledge, 2011) and an edited volume, Dressing Judeans and Christians in Antiquity (Routledge, 2014).

She has also published a book on the history of pre-modern medicine, Medicine, Health, and Healing in the Ancient Mediterranean (University of California Press, 2023).

With Heidi Marx at the University of Manitoba, Upson-Saia founded and co-directs the international working group, composed of over 300 scholarly members, on Religion, Medicine, Disability, and Health in late antiquity, ReMeDHe. ReMeDHe sponsors an annual travel grant to honor her scholarship and her work with the organization.

Accomplishments In 2008, Upson-Saia's article "Caught in a Compromising Position: The Biblical Exegesis and Characterization of Biblical Protagonists in the Syriac Dialogue Hymns" was awarded the Best First Article Prize from the North American Patristics Society.

In 2011, Upson-Saia was awarded the Donald R. Loftsgordon Memorial Award for Outstanding Teaching, and in 2012, Upson-Saia won the Linda and Tod White Teaching Prize.

In 2021, Upson-Saia was awarded the David B. and Mary H. Gamble Professorship at Occidental College.

In 2022, Upson-Saia led efforts to procure a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to fund Occidental College’s Humanities for Just Communities curriculum.

In 2025, Upson-Saia was awarded the Graham L. Sterling Memorial Award.

Media Upson-Saia was an expert contributor on Greg Jenner's BBC Radio 4 programme, 'You're Dead To Me', with comedian Stu Goldsmith. They discussed Greek and Roman Medicine.

Upson-Saia has also written about medical views on pregnancy for Nursing Clio, dress at the Met Gala for Hyperallergic, ancient sexual ethics with the Huffington Post.