My current work focuses on the changing perception of the body in sixteenth century German medical writing. In particular, I have researched the works of Paracelsus (1493 1541) to demonstrate how his notion of corporeality emerged from his consideration of human birth.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

History of the body from medieval Europe to contemporary America, historical and contemporary understanding of intersex and transgender, American women’s health movements, Paracelsus (1493-1541) and paracelsian physicians of the seventeenth century, German literature.

COURSES TAUGHT

Introduction to Women and Gender Studies
Introduction to Women's Texts
Making Sex and Gender: Understanding History of the Body
Transgender Studies

MONOGRAPH

Paracelsus’s Theory of Embodiment: Conception and Gestation in Early Modern Europe. London: Pickering and Chatto, forthcoming 2010.

ARTICLES

Book Review, "Heredity Produced Ed. Müller-Wille and Rheinberger" Sixteenth Century Journal. Forthcoming Fall 2008.

"Paracelsus’s Conception of Seeds: Rethinking Paracelsus's Ideas of Body and Matter". Ambix 55.3 (November 2008): 274-282.

"Gilbertus Anglicus" Eds. Helen Bynum and William F. Bynum. Dictionary of Medical Biography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006.

PRESENTATIONS

Invited Talk. "Seventeenth Century Paracelsians and the Aging Body: Theory and Practice" (Re)constructing the aging body: Western medical cultures and gender 1650-2000. Johannes Gutenberg University, September 26th–28th, 2008.

Anatomy in Popular Culture: The Life and Work of Leonhard Thurnheisser Sixteenth Century Studies Conference October 26, 2007.

Paracelsus's Seed Theory Revisited. Sixteenth Century Studies Conference October 26, 2006.

Invited talk. Co-discussion leader. Anatomy in Early Modern Germany. Women, Health and Healing Workshop. Johns Hopkins University April 21,
2006

The Problem of Anonymous Texts in Paracelsus Scholarship. Sixteenth Century Studies Conference November 1, 2003

CONTACT

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Campus Box 1078
McMillan Hall, Room 210
Washington University
St. Louis, MO 63130
(314) 935-3853-office
(314) 935-8678-fax
Email