Katayoun Chamany – Stem Cells Across the Curriculum abstract accepted to Consuming Intimacies Conference

  • Posted on: April 14, 2015
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Katayoun Chamany, with Lang alums Alexa Riggs (’13) and Lianna Schwartz-Orbach (’12) authored an abstract that was accepted for the Consuming Intimacies Conference, a two-day symposium that aims to re-think concepts and practices of intimacy and social justice issues through a wide spectrum of twenty-first-century intimate labours and their associated economies being held at The Social Justice Research Institute of Brock University, St. Catharines.

 

Summary:

Stem cell research and its related technologies are often framed as holding potential for the development of therapies and the production of life extending supplements, while procedural and distributive justice issues associated with this field are minimized. The segregation of the biomedical and the social aspects of stem cell research is reified in educational materials that present the moral status of the embryo as the singular ethical issue of import, as seen in courses offered not only by science, but philosophy departments.

Katayoun Chamany is an Associate Professor of Biology at The New School and a Leadership Fellow for Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER). She received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from UC Berkeley and her scholarship is centered on developing science and social justice curricula with a specific focus on stem cell research and infographic thinking. She received the University Distinguished Teaching Award at The New School and serves on the Editorial Boards for the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science and CBE/Life Sciences Education Journal.

Alexa Riggs, MPH candidate at CUNY, is a graduate of The New School where she obtained a double major in Interdisciplinary Science and Psychology and a minor in Gender Studies. She served as the research assistant and co-author of the Eggs & Blood: Gifts & Commodities module of the Stem Cells Across the Curriculum project. She received the Outstanding Senior Award in Interdisciplinary Science and the David Woods Humanitarian Award. Her research interests span social epidemiology, reproductive health, and social justice.

Lianna Schwartz-Orbach is a graduate of The New School where she obtained the major in Interdisciplinary Science and a minor in Gender Studies. She served as the research assistant on the Sources of Stem Cells Radial Infographic and ZoomGraphics for the Stem Cells Across the Curriculum project. She received the Outstanding Senior Award in Interdisciplinary Science. Her research interests span reproductive health, biomedicine, life science, epigenetics and social justice.

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