’02 Health services researcher

During the year following graduation, I completed my MSc degree in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine through a joint program at Imperial College and University College London, with generous support from Vassar’s Maguire Fellowship program. I am currently an Assistant Researcher (our institution’s research equivalent of Assistant Professor) in the Department of Native Hawaiian Health, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa.

While at Vassar, the interdisciplinary nature of STS allowed me to be a dabbler and pursue a range of interests rather than restricting me to a narrow course of study. I would say that the ability to explore, which STS certainly instills, has served me well in my work since graduation. My undergraduate thesis on the social construction of HIV disease led to my master’s thesis on defining disease, and then to my current work in health services research. I think that my background in STS allows me to bring a unique historical and sociological, as well as scientific, approach to my field.