Biography
Kirsten Ostherr, Ph.D., M.P.H. , is the Gladys Louise Fox Professor of English and director of the Medical Humanities Research Institute at Rice University. Ostherr is the author of “Medical Visions: Producing the Patient Through Film, Television, and Imaging Technologies” (Oxford University Press, 2013) and “Cinematic Prophylaxis: Globalization and Contagion in the Discourse of World Health” (Duke University Press, 2005). She is founder of the Medical Humanities Program and Medical Futures Lab and has extensive experience using human-centered design for patient collaboration in health technology development. Her research on trust and privacy in digital health ecosystems has been featured in Marketplace Tech on NPR, The Atlantic and The Washington Post. She is currently writing a book called “Robot Pathographies: Datafication, Surveillance, and Patient Stories in the Age of Virtual Health.” Ostherr receives research support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Institutes of Health.