Research FellowshipDepartment of Bioethics & Health Humanities

The goal of the Research Fellowship is to give postdoctral scholars a year of protected time to focus on their research while also integrating them into the everyday life of a dynamic, multidisciplinary institution within a health science center.

Our Fellowship Offers

Fellows are expected to carry out their research projects and to collaborate with BHH faculty on new projects. In addition, fellows will teach one BHH graduate seminar in their research area and may be involved in educational sessions for healthcare professional students and practicing clinicians. As a member of BHH, fellows will participate in departmental events, such as seminar series and work in progress sessions. 

Eligibility

Fellows should have a terminal degree (PhD, JD, or MD/DO) and research interests that interface with bioethics and health humanities. This is a one-year program that runs from September 1 to August 31. Scholars may apply for renewal for a second year. In addition to a salary of $63,000, scholars will receive health insurance, professional development funds, office space, library access, and various other UTMB benefits.

Application

Interested applicants should submit a letter of interest in this program, including your research project(s), potential topics for a graduate seminar and curriculum vitae to the Search Committee (bhh@utmb.edu). We begin accepting applications in January for a start date of September 1.

UTMB Health strives to provide equal opportunity employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other basis protected by institutional policy or by federal, state or local laws unless such distinction is required by law. As a VEVRAA Federal Contractor, UTMB Health takes affirmative action to hire and advance women, minorities, protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.

Research Fellowship Contacts

Portrait of Stephen Molldrem, PhD
Phone: (409) 747-9328
Fax: (409) 772-5272
Physical Address:
UHC 4.418
Mailing Address:
301 University Boulevard
Galveston, TX 77555-1150

Stephen Molldrem, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Bioethics & Health Humanities
Research Program Director, Bioethics & Health Humanities
Member, Institute for Translational Sciences
Pronouns: he/him/his

About Me

 

Stephen Molldrem is Assistant Professor and Research Program Director in Bioethics and Health Humanities at The University of Texas Medical Branch. He is an ethnographer, qualitative social research, and health policy scholar situated mainly in Science and Technology Studies (STS). He also works across public health ethics, data studies, queer studies, and global health. His collaborative and interdisciplinary work has been funded by numerous agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF).

For nearly a decade, Stephen has studied how the ongoing incorporation of digital infrastructures and pathogen genomics into public health programs is reconfiguring the politics and practice of infectious disease control. His research on pathogen genomics in the US, Botswana, and global health policy have addressed numerous ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) stemming from uses of these technologies in HIV, TB, and SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 programs. His papers have shown how uses of pathogen genomics in disease control programs have played key roles in reshaping relations between scientific institutions, public health agencies, and social movements led by people living with and affected by infectious diseases. This work includes studies of how pathogen genomics have impacted framings of infectious disease evolution and transmission among experts and lay publics – including journalists, activists, and affected groups. He has also documented how pathogen genomics have changed the politics of consent in US HIV programs, leading social movement actors to ask for reforms. His work has also brought insights from queer studies to analyses of public health, showing how US HIV programs that use digital and genomic technologies have shifted how public health institutions govern sexuality in relation to transmission risk.

Stephen maintains active projects in other areas. These include studies on the ethics and practice of translational science, on the history of sexuality in relation to HIV/AIDS, and on the changing place of consent in public health programs for the digital era. He has published widely in leading journals, including The American Journal of Bioethics, Social Studies of Science, Health Policy, BioSocieties, Global Public Health, The Milbank Quarterly, and others.

 

Affiliations

  • UTMB School of Public and Population Health
  • UTMB Institute for Bioethics and Health Humanities
  • UTMB Institute for Translational Sciences

Education

  • UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Anthropology, University of California, Irvine
  • PhD, American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Certificate of Graduate Studies, Science, Technology, and Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • MA, American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • BA, Political Communication (with Special Honors), magna cum laude, The George Washington University, School of Media and Public Affairs

Research

Areas of Interest

  • Science and Technology Studies (STS)
  • Public Health Ethics
  • Data Studies
  • Queer Studies
  • The History of Sexuality
  • Global Health

Publications

Phone: (409) 747-9328
Fax: (409) 772-5272
Physical Address:
UHC 4.418
Mailing Address:
301 University Boulevard
Galveston, TX 77555-1150

General Requests: (409) 772-1128
Applicants: (409) 747-7584