Stephen Pemberton
Stephen Pemberton
Associate Professor, Federated History
325 Cullimore Hall
About Me
Dr. Pemberton is a historian of medicine, disease and health with expertise in United States history and the history and sociology of science. His research and teaching is also informed by his training in philosophy and his engagements with medical humanities scholarship and health policy debates.
He is author of The Bleeding Disease: Hemophilia and the Unintended Consequences of Medical Progress (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011) and co-author of The Troubled Dream of Genetic Medicine: Ethnicity and Innovation in Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle Cell Disease (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
He is author of The Bleeding Disease: Hemophilia and the Unintended Consequences of Medical Progress (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011) and co-author of The Troubled Dream of Genetic Medicine: Ethnicity and Innovation in Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle Cell Disease (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
Education
Ph.D.; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; History; 2001
M.A.; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; History; 1997
M.A.; University of Memphis; Philosophy; 1992
B.A.; Trinity University; Philosophy; 1990
M.A.; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; History; 1997
M.A.; University of Memphis; Philosophy; 1992
B.A.; Trinity University; Philosophy; 1990
Awards & Honors
2022 CSLA Undergraduate Teaching Award, College of Science and Liberal Arts
2020 NJIT Master Teacher and Fellow of the Institute for Teaching Excellence, New Jersey Institute of Technology
2020 An Instructor of the Year, Albert Dorman Honors College Graduating Class
2020 CSLA Excellence in Service Award, College of Science and Liberal Arts
2019 Most Inspirational Teacher, Albert Dorman Honors College Graduating Class
2020 NJIT Master Teacher and Fellow of the Institute for Teaching Excellence, New Jersey Institute of Technology
2020 An Instructor of the Year, Albert Dorman Honors College Graduating Class
2020 CSLA Excellence in Service Award, College of Science and Liberal Arts
2019 Most Inspirational Teacher, Albert Dorman Honors College Graduating Class
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2023 Spring Courses
HIST 701B - MASTER'S THESIS
HIST 381 - SCI & TECH IN MODERN MEDICINE
HIST 727 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 702 - MASTER'S ESSAY
HIST 401 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 402 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HSS 404 - HISTORY SEMINAR: EPIDEMIC, JUSTICE, AND BIOCAPITALISM - HONORS
HIST 701C - MASTER'S THESIS
HIST 381 - SCI & TECH IN MODERN MEDICINE
HIST 727 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 702 - MASTER'S ESSAY
HIST 401 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HIST 402 - INDEPENDENT STUDY
HSS 404 - HISTORY SEMINAR: EPIDEMIC, JUSTICE, AND BIOCAPITALISM - HONORS
HIST 701C - MASTER'S THESIS
Office Hours
Email for Appointment
Teaching Interests
History of medicine
History of public health
History of biomedical sciences and technology
History of health law and policy
United States history
History of public health
History of biomedical sciences and technology
History of health law and policy
United States history
Past Courses
HIST 214: TECHNOLOGY & CULTURE IN AMERICAN HISTORY
HIST 378: MEDICINE & HEALTH LAW IN MODERN AMERICA
HIST 378: MEDICINE AND HEALTH LAW IN MODERN AMERICA
HIST 379: HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE & PUBLIC HEALTH
HIST 381: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN MEDICINE
HIST 622: CULTURE & SCIENCE IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE
HIST 626: SOCIAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE SINCE 1800
HIST 635: HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, & HEALTH
HIST 656: TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF HEALTH
HIST 702: MASTER'S ESSAY
HSS 404: DISEASE, HEALTH & SOCIAL JUSTICE
HSS 404: EPIDEMIC, HEALTH & JUSTICE
HSS 404: GENETICS, MEDICINE & SOCIETY
HSS 404: MEDICINE IN THE MEDIA
HIST 378: MEDICINE & HEALTH LAW IN MODERN AMERICA
HIST 378: MEDICINE AND HEALTH LAW IN MODERN AMERICA
HIST 379: HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE & PUBLIC HEALTH
HIST 381: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN MODERN MEDICINE
HIST 622: CULTURE & SCIENCE IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE
HIST 626: SOCIAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN MEDICINE SINCE 1800
HIST 635: HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT, & HEALTH
HIST 656: TOPICS IN THE HISTORY OF HEALTH
HIST 702: MASTER'S ESSAY
HSS 404: DISEASE, HEALTH & SOCIAL JUSTICE
HSS 404: EPIDEMIC, HEALTH & JUSTICE
HSS 404: GENETICS, MEDICINE & SOCIETY
HSS 404: MEDICINE IN THE MEDIA
Research Interests
Dr. Pemberton is a historian of medicine, disease and health with expertise in United States history and the history and sociology of science. His research and writing is also informed by his training in philosophy and his engagements with medical humanities scholarship and health policy debates.
In Progress
Bleeding Disorder: What Efforts to Cure to Hemophilia Reveal about Biocapitalism
This book of scholarly essays situates historical and contemporary efforts to cure hemophilia and other genetic diseases as a lens for interpreting biocapitalism; the book asks readers to consider what the pursuit of healing and justice entails for democratic societies committed to using biocapital to promote medical and social progress.
The Case for Irony in Medicine
This research project explores how and why a therapeutic concept of irony can serve as a standpoint for judging the vexed character of “high tech” medicine and healthcare today. Fully understood, a therapeutic concept of irony promises physicians and other caregivers with a means for overcoming some of the conceptual as well as practical difficulties that have impeded their best efforts to care for their patients as well as themselves.
This book of scholarly essays situates historical and contemporary efforts to cure hemophilia and other genetic diseases as a lens for interpreting biocapitalism; the book asks readers to consider what the pursuit of healing and justice entails for democratic societies committed to using biocapital to promote medical and social progress.
The Case for Irony in Medicine
This research project explores how and why a therapeutic concept of irony can serve as a standpoint for judging the vexed character of “high tech” medicine and healthcare today. Fully understood, a therapeutic concept of irony promises physicians and other caregivers with a means for overcoming some of the conceptual as well as practical difficulties that have impeded their best efforts to care for their patients as well as themselves.
Journal Article
Pemberton, Stephen (2019). Bad Blood and Unsettled Law: Are Healing and Justice Even Possible When Biocapitalism Prevails?. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine , 62(3), 576-590.
Pemberton, Stephen (2014). The Fix Is In. Nature, 515(7528), S165.
Pemberton, Stephen (2014). The Fix Is In. Nature, 515(7528), S165.
Magazine/Trade Publication
Gene Therapy's Haemophlia Promise Is Tempered by Memories of Past Tragedies [Reprint of "The Fix is In" from Nature]
Scientific American, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2015
Scientific American, January (1st Quarter/Winter) 2015
Chapter
Pemberton, Stephen (2014). The Curious Case of the ‘Professional Hemophiliac’: Medicine, Disability and the Contested Value of Normality in the United States, 1940-2010, Susan Burch and Michael Rembis (Eds.), Disability Histories. (pp. 237-57). University of Illinois Press: Disability Histories
Pemberton, Stephen (2013). ‘The Most Hereditary of All Diseases’: Hemophilia and the Utility of Genetics for Hematology, 1930-1970, Bernd Gausemeier, Staffan Müller-Wille, and Edmund Ramsden (Eds.), Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century . (pp. 165-178). Pickering & Chatto Publishers: Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century
Pemberton, Stephen (2004). Canine Technologies, Model Patients: The Historical Production of Hemophiliac Dogs in American Biomedicine, Susan Schrepfer and Philip Scranton (Eds.), Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History . (pp. 191-213). Routledge: Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History
Pemberton, Stephen (2013). ‘The Most Hereditary of All Diseases’: Hemophilia and the Utility of Genetics for Hematology, 1930-1970, Bernd Gausemeier, Staffan Müller-Wille, and Edmund Ramsden (Eds.), Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century . (pp. 165-178). Pickering & Chatto Publishers: Human Heredity in the Twentieth Century
Pemberton, Stephen (2004). Canine Technologies, Model Patients: The Historical Production of Hemophiliac Dogs in American Biomedicine, Susan Schrepfer and Philip Scranton (Eds.), Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History . (pp. 191-213). Routledge: Industrializing Organisms: Introducing Evolutionary History
Book
Pemberton, Stephen (2011). The Bleeding Disease: Hemophilia and the Unintended Consequences of Medical Progress. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
Wailoo, Keith, & Pemberton, Stephen (2006). The Troubled Dream of Genetic Medicine: Ethnicity and Innovation in Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, and Sickle Cell Disease. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
Wailoo, Keith, & Pemberton, Stephen (2006). The Troubled Dream of Genetic Medicine: Ethnicity and Innovation in Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, and Sickle Cell Disease. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press