I am an anthropologist fascinated by how science and medicine are used to explain and intervene in gender. From population-based reports about “normal” and “abnormal” sexual desire to the intimate space of the operating room, my work explores the ways that masculine and feminine ideals shape our understanding of the “good bodies” crafted by medical practice. And, at the same time, it shows how an insatiable demand for gender consolidating medicine continues to drive medical innovation.

My most recent book, The Matter of Motherhood (Beacon Press, 2026), critically explores the emerging practice of uterine transplantation..

I am Associate Professor in the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, where I am also a faculty affiliate in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies and the Graduate Program in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory. Before joining the faculty at UArizona, I earned my PhD in Anthropology from the University of California Berkeley in 2012, and was a three-year Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Michigan Society of Fellows.

I am a native Oregonian living in the Sonoran Desert in perpetual search of shade.

And, with apologies to everyone who thought theirs were better, I am certain that my wife and daughter are the greatest people on earth.