Steven Epstein (Sociology)
Science Studies Program Director sepstein@ucsd.edu

University of California, San Diego
Department of Sociology, 0533
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0533
Phone: (858) 534-0489
Fax: (858) 534-4753

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Steven Epstein received his B.A. from Harvard College (Social Studies) and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (Sociology). After receiving his doctorate, he spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in the Science Studies Program at the University of California, San Diego. Currently he is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at UCSD. In 2006 he became the director of UCSD's Science Studies Program.

Dr. Epstein's areas of academic interest and teaching include: sociology of biomedicine, health, and illness; sociology of science and scientific knowledge; gender, sexuality, race, and biomedicine; health and inequality; science policy and health policy; social movements; sociology of sexuality; lesbian and gay studies; and sociological theory.

Dr. Epstein's book, Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (Univdersity of California Press 1996), is a study of the politicized production of knowledge in the AIDS epidemic. It examines the roles of laypeople and activists in transforming medical research. Impure Science was awarded the C. Wright Mills Prize by the Society for Study of Social Problems, the Robert K. Merton Prize by the American Sociological Association, and the Rachel Carson Prize by the Society for Social Studies of Science.

Dr. Epstein's new book, Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in May 2007. A study of the "politics of inclusion" and the "management of difference" in biomedical research in the U.S., this work was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Epstein is also a co-investigator on a qualitative study of "sexual migration" that analyzes the sexual identities and risk practices of gay Mexican men who choose to migrate to San Diego at least in part for reason connected to their sexual identity. In relation to this group, Dr. Epstein is studying the formation of "immigrant sexual citizenship."

Dr. Epstein has published in such journals as Social Studies of Science, Body & Society, Sociological Forum, Social Identities, and Science, Technology, & Human Values. His journal articles and book chapters address a wide variety of topics related to health, science, politics, social inequalities, and sexuality.

Dr. Epstein recently served on the selection committee of the Social Science Research Council's Sexuality Research Fellowship Program, and as a council member for the Society for Social Studies of Science. He has been a member of the editorial boards of journals such as the American Journal of Sociology; Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law; Public Understanding of Science; Sexualities; and Sexuality Research and Social Policy.

At UCSD, in addition to his appointment in Sociology and his participation in the Science Studies Program, Dr. Epstein is affiliated with the Critical Gender Studies Program and the Ethnic Studies Department. His website is http://sociology.ucsd.edu/~sepstein/.