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Gerald Kutcher

Dean's Professor of the History of Medicine
Ph.D. History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
Ph.D. Physics, City University of New York
Office: LT 611  
Phone: (607) 777-6603 E-mail: gkutcher@binghamton.edu
My major interests are in the histories of medicine, science, public health and bioethics. My research efforts have primarily focused on the study of scientific practices in twentieth century medicine. I bring to these studies an appreciation of how scientific knowledge claims are the products of social negotiation. I examine how social constructions of knowledge influence medical practices as well shape ethical behavior. I am currently working on a monograph on post- World War II human radiation studies entitled Clinical Ethics and Research Imperatives in Human Experiments: A Case of Contested Knowledge. I am also investigating the role of medical imaging in the representation of disease for both cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Recent or current undergraduate courses:

  • History of Medicine
  • Public Health, Society and the State
  • History of Bioethics

Recent or current graduate courses:

  • Public Health, Society and the State

Significant Publications

Recent Articles:
  • "Cancer Clinical Trials and the Transfer of Medical Knowledge: Metrology, Contestation and Local Practice", in Casten Timmermans (ed.), Devices and Designs: Medical Innovations in Historical Perspective, (in press).
  • "Risk to Medicine or Autonomy Rights of Subjects? Governing American Medical Research,"
    www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BIOS/docs/GeraldKutcher.pdf, 2004
  • "Cancer Therapy and Military Cold War Research: Crossing Epistemological and Ethical Boundaries," History Workshop Journal, 2003; 56: 105-130.

Recent Presentations

  • "Human Experimentation and the Difficulties of Ethical Closure: A Case Study in Post-World War II Radiation Studies," American Association for the History of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama, April, 2005
  • "Risk to Medicine or the Autonomy Rights of Subjects? Governing American Medical Research," Vital Politics: Health, Medicine and Bioeconomics into the Twenty-First Century, Conference, London School of Economics, September, 2003
  • "Cancer Clinical Trials and the Transfer of Medical Knowledge: Metrology, Contestation and Local Practice," Devices and Designs: Medical Innovations in Historical Perspective, Conference, University of Manchester, July, 2003
  • "The Production of Trustworthy Knowledge: Clinical Trials, Ethical Review and the Reduction of Risk," University of Cambridge, January, 2002.