Miranda Waggoner, Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University

A longstanding problem in medicine is the lack of safety data on vaccines and medications in pregnancy. In this talk, Waggoner will analyze the historical exclusion of pregnant individuals from clinical research studies, with particular attention to the crucial role of the thalidomide drug tragedy. As she considers how gendered and exclusionary practices have resulted in the lack of a robust evidence base to inform pregnancy care, Waggoner will discuss contemporary efforts to bridge the knowledge gaps that impede and imperil reproductive care today.

Sponsored by the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology, and by the Science, Technology, and Society Program.

Campus community only, please.