I’m a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at UCLA with research interests in healthcare, criminal justice, inequality, and bioethics.
My dissertation project studies criminal legal reform efforts targeting populations experiencing homelessness and mental illness. Other projects examine the organ procurement industry, the use of genetic testing in cardiology, and the rise in elective obstetric interventions (e.g., C-sections). My projects have used a variety of methods, from ethnography to social network analysis.
Much of my previous work has used social science methods to contribute to debates in the field of bioethics. For example, I’ve conducted surveys investigating public and IRB member attitudes regarding the acceptability of various research risks among pediatric populations. I’ve also surveyed genomic research participants who have declined to receive medically actionable genetic information about themselves. These studies and others were conducted as a fellow in the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. I’ve also contributed to the sociological study of bioethics. I’ve studied the growing profession of clinical ethicists and the extent to which they are able to intervene in medical decision-making.
My research has appeared in social science (Social Science and Medicine), medical (Pediatrics, Genetics in Medicine), public health (American Journal of Public Health), and bioethics (Journal of Bioethical Inquiry) journals. My public scholarship can be found in Slate and HuffPost. I’m supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Updated June 2024.
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