I am an analyst of biomedical science and technology.  In particular,  I focus on understanding how the organization of the institutional structures in which biomedical knowledge and technological artifacts are produced embed us in particular social arrangements that impinge both on collective and individual experience of health and disease.  In other words, how the business of medicine shapes the practice of medicine.

I hold a PhD in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from Cornell University.  What on earth, you might rightly ask, is Science & Technology Studies? STS is an academic discipline that combines the methodological approaches from various social sciences to examine science and technology as social phenomena. We tend to think of science as a source of objective knowledge–knowledge derived directly from nature and universally applicable (both apples in England and coconuts in Thailand obey the law of gravity in the same way), but this kind of understanding isn’t enough.  Science and technology are so deeply integrated into political, cultural, social and economic structures that we need to understand how it actually works because this understanding isn’t just intrinsically interesting, it can also provide a useful lens on these other domains.

Interesting, (I hope) you are thinking at this point–but what exactly is the use? The uses are many.

• Policy applications–designing efficacious policy interventions requires not only an awareness that there is a problem, but a nuanced understanding of what the problem is.  And for that is imperative to understand the practices in a given field that the intervention is aimed at.
• Commercial applications–successful product development requires not just the technical mastery of science and/or engineering to produce said product.  It requires mastery of the market–an understanding of who your users are going to be, how they will be interacting with your product, and how to get your product to occupy the place you envision for it in their lives.

In other words, if your goal is to build a better airport, develop the next best selling app, tackle environmental problems or encourage pharmaceutical innovation, STS insights and approaches will serve you well.  They will also serve you well if you just want to understand your relationships to the science and technology that structures your world.

But enough proselytizing (for now).  If you have any questions about this field, email m