Dean Stern to present at Dec. 9 AAAS discussion on disability justice, reproductive justice
Todd Cheney/UCLA Humanities
Humanities Dean Alexandra Minna Stern has written extensively about the use and misuse of genetics.
| December 5, 2024
UCLA Humanities Dean Alexandra Minna Stern will co-present a discussion Dec. 9 about the connections between ableism, racism and the legacy of eugenics.
The online event, part of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s Sea Change Biomedicine series, will focus on advancing disability justice and reproductive justice in medical education. Stern will speak about the work of the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab, which she founded, and explore what it means to reckon with the history of eugenics.
Stern has research and published extensively on the uses and misuses of genetics in the U.S. and Latin America, and she is the author of the award-winning “Eugenic Nation: Faults and Frontiers of Better Breeding in Modern America,” and “Telling Genes: The Story of Genetic Counseling in America.”
“I am honored to be included in the Sea Change series, which explores challenging questions related to bioethics, justice, society, health and medicine,” Stern said. “I hope sharing the story and mission of the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab will contribute to understandings of how interdisciplinary research oriented around reproductive health and justice can help us better grasp medical harms in the past and their continuing reverberations.”
Stern’s co-presenter will be Rupa S. Valdez, a University of Virginia professor of public health sciences and of systems and information engineering. She will speak about the need for further research on health inequities faced by disabled populations.
The event will be held on Zoom beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific time on Dec. 9. For more information and to register, visit this AAAS webpage.