Helena Hansen is an American psychiatrist and anthropologist who is a professor and Chair of Translational Social Science at University of California, Los Angeles.

She was a graduate student at Yale University, where she earned both a medical degree and a doctorate in cultural anthropology.

[1] She also spent time in Puerto Rico, where she studied faith healing programmes led by ex-addicts in Christian ministries.

Hansen created a documentary film based on her doctoral work and supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

[3] The film, which considered race, class and addiction to pharmaceuticals, debuted at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.