Joanne D. Woiak, PhD

Research interests: the social justice implications of knowledge about genetics, reproduction, and health in the modern era.

Lecturer, Disability Studies

Home Department:

Disability Studies

Affiliated Departments:

Law, Societies & Justice, UW Medicine

• Ph.D., History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto

My research interests encompass the social justice implications of knowledge about genetics, reproduction, and health in the modern era. I focus on disability in American and British history and culture, including the history of sterilization and constructions of mental disability in Washington, the rhetorical uses of “eugenics” in public discourses, reading science fiction through the lens of disability studies, and disability pedagogy. I developed the 2009 symposium Eugenics and Disability: History and Legacy in Washington, the 2011 lecture series Unspeakable: Disability History, Identity, and Rights, and the 2015 and 2016 symposia of the Pacific & Western Disability Studies Consortium. I am an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Disability Studies, and a member of the Disability History Association.

Lecturer, Full-Time, Disability Studies Program; Adjunct Faculty, Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine