About

I am a cultural anthropologist with a particular interest in biomedicine. I obtained my doctorate in cultural anthropology and Master’s in Public Health, both from Columbia University. I subsequently completed postdoctoral training at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University where I am a Senior Research Scholar.

I recently completed a book on contemporary controversies over medical treatment of intersex conditions in the United States, which is based on ten years of research. It was recently published by Duke University Press. You can learn more about the book in the book and media pages on this website.

My research has been generously funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (Individual Research Grant and Richard Carley Hunt Fellowship), the Sexuality Research Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council, and the National Institutes of Health.

I frequently speak on a wide range of issues at the interface between medicine and society for academic, clinical, and public audiences. I have also been interviewed by the New York Times on several occasions about my work.

I am currently on the Board of Directors for Accord Alliance, a not-for-profit established in 2008 to promote comprehensive and integrated approaches to care that enhance the health and well-being of people and families affected by intersex conditions, or what are now referred to as disorders of sex development.

I have taught at the undergraduate and graduate level in schools of social sciences, public health, and medicine at Stanford and Columbia Universities, as well as Mills College.