Gill Haddow

I have a background in the sociology of health and medicine and have developed a special interest in emerging scientific and medical biotechnologies. Conceptually I have brought these areas together through a focus on embodiment, identity and relationships. Areas of research in the last ten years have included non-human animal-human transplantation; genetic databases; cybernetic medical and implantable smart technologies; and 3D bioprinting. My contribution highlights 1) the previously unrecogonised gender bias in processes of cyborgisation as is the case with Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICD) and 2) also demonstrates the new vulnerabilites created by depending on such technologies. My book ‘Embodiment and Everyday Cyborgs: Technologies that alter subjectivities’ is available open access from here: My book ‘Embodiment and Everyday Cyborgs: Technologies that alter Subjectivity’ highlights 1) the gender bias in processes of cyborgisation as is the case with Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators (ICD) and 2) demonstrates the new vulnerabilites created. I also co-convene the undergraduate course ‘Sociology of Medicine’ where we look at the nature of medical professions, the relationships between clinicians and patients, biomedical power and knowledge, empowered patient subjectivity and patient activism. We also discuss the rise and status of public health (including some reflections on the social consequences of the coronavirus) and key contemporary issues in biomedicine (such as geneticisation, pharmaceuticalisation and cyborgisation) reflecting on whether these new medical (bio)technologies may go 'beyond therapy' to enhancement.