I am a medical anthropologist and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford. For more information about my work, see the other sections of the website. News is posted below. (The tag line above is shamelessly adapted from Hendrik Hertzberg's blog.)
A new study in Science shows cancer is much more complicated than previously thought, which is going to make developing treatments after a tumor has spread a greater challenge. Some researchers looked at every gene in pancreatic and brain tumors—two of the hardest-to-treat cancers. Apparently new therapies such as Novartis’ Gleevec target one gene, but cancer is actually caused by dozens of mutated genes (at least 60 in these two types of cancer).
Instead of [...] Continue Reading…
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Every week the media seem to grossly oversimplify the results of some study making claims that are just over the top. It seems high time to chronicle these. I’ll post the better ones as I find them. Here, my friends, is the cause of marital discord, covered in the esteemed Washington Post: Study Links Gene Variant in Men to Marital Discord.
Men are more likely to be devoted and loyal husbands when they lack a
particular [...] Continue Reading…
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Thanks to Duke, the introduction for my book is now available here.
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I know I’m late to the game here, but I just saw the film XXY. I was reluctant to see it because I’ve seen way too many TV programs etc on intersex that just make me cringe and I tend to be nervous about most films that center on issues of gender or sexual variance for fear they’ll be either exploitative or strident. But when Ellen Feder told me to see it, I decided [...] Continue Reading…
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Jane Brody, of the New York Times, has a nice piece about the difficulty of determining when to stop treating cancer and instead turn toward palliative care. Much of what she writes in the piece applies to other conditions. You can find it here.
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On Monday the California Supreme Court rule unanimously ruled that doctors cannot refuse to medical care for gays and lesbians based on the physicians’ religious beliefs. The constitutional right to exercise free religion does not allow businesses to skirt California state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The case that led to this ruling began in 1999 when Guadalupe Benitez, a lesbian, went to two doctors for fertility treatments. Both doctors refused [...] Continue Reading…
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The Chinese media today had a story on a visit to the Beijing Olympics Gender Testing Lab. The article makes it sound as though male athletes masquerading as women is a persistent problem. But, really, it’s one that has been made problematic anew for the Beijing Olympics.
The issue first came up decades ago when it was alleged that male athletes were trying to complete as women in international sports competitions. So-called sex testing—basically chromosomal [...] Continue Reading…
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Today, Good Morning America profiled Eden Atwood, a singer and actress with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. In general, it’s a sensitive portrait (aside from the screen caption “She’s a girl…or a boy?”) in which she discusses some of the pain that resulted from how her clinicians and parents responded to her condition. A priceless moment is when the interviewer is talking to physician Charmian Quigley. As she is describing the typical anatomy of a woman [...] Continue Reading…
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You knew this had to be coming. The AP has a story saying that China’s state media has reported that organizers of the Beijing Olympics have set up a “gender determination lab” to test female athletes suspected of being males. How, you might be wondering, will they decide whom to test? Well, it’s said experts will initially evaluate individuals based on their external appearance. (I would love to know what kind of experience qualifies [...] Continue Reading…
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Last month, activists from Intersexuelle Menschen e.V., an international organization representing several intersex advocacy groups, protested outside of the Children’s Hospital in Zurich. It looks a lot like the protests ISNA organized in 1996 outside the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Protestors in Zurich carried signs that read ”Human rights for zwitters too.” Apparently “zwitter” is pejorative term for hermaphrodite that activists have reclaimed. (They also held a protest in Cologne in [...] Continue Reading…
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