Download a high resolution photo of Monica Casper.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ There are many terms that can be used to define
Monica J. Casper, the new director of the women’s studies program at
Vanderbilt University ñ feminist scholar, bioethicist, medical
sociologist and mom. Indeed, Casper’s varied roles reflect one of her
major goals since joining the university this fall ñ to expand people’s
definition of women’s studies.
"Women’s studies is not just about women’s identity ñ women’s issues
cross a wide variety of disciplines," Casper said. "The program here
has traditionally been based in the College of Arts and Science;
however, I really want to connect with other schools within the
university to examine what role women and issues related to them play
in the worlds of business, law and medicine, for example."
In addition to serving as director of the women’s studies program,
Casper also has an appointment as an associate professor of sociology.
Casper’s expertise lies in the field of medical sociology, specifically
how women’s bodies and lives are impacted by science, technology and
medicine. She is interested in issues such as how to balance pregnant
women’s rights to informed consent and bodily integrity with the rising
fetal rights movement.
Her award-winning book, The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social
Anatomy of Fetal Surgery, published in 1998 by Rutgers University
Press, looks at fetal surgery as a women’s health issue. Casper won the
C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems
and the Distinguished Book Award from the Sex and Gender Section of the
American Sociological Association for the book.
Among her other research projects is a study of the impact of chemical
weapons disposal on nine communities across the country ñ specifically
the disposal’s impact on people and their bodies and whether the
medical and social ramifications were considered in the U.S. Army’s
decision-making on the method of disposal.
She is currently investigating the threat of quinacrine, an
inexpensive, chemical sterilization agent used in Third World nations
for population control, to women’s health and women’s reproductive
rights. The project includes a comparative analysis of quinacrine
sterilization and Essure, a new permanent sterilization technique being
offered to women in the developed world.
Casper is also looking at the ethics of prenatal treatment of
congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a disorder that can cause female babies
to be born with masculine-appearing external genitals due to being
exposed to high levels of androgens, male-like hormones, in the womb.
The breast milk biomonitoring controversy ñ balancing the need to study
the environmental conditions causing breast milk contamination without
undermining breastfeeding ñ is also a topic of interest for her.
She joins Vanderbilt after directing the Intersex Society of North
America, a non-profit organization based in Rohnert Park, Calif., which
is an advocate for intersex patients’ rights. Casper directed the
organization while on extended leave from the University of California,
Santa Cruz, where she was an associate professor of sociology.
Casper holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a
doctorate degree from the University of California, San Francisco. She
received postdoctoral training in bioethics at Stanford University.
Media contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu