Epigenetics and the Maternal Body: Ethical and Social Dimensions

Sarah Richardson, PhD

John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences
Department of the History of Science and the Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University
Author of Sex Itself: The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome

Epigenetics research situates the maternal body as a central site of epigenetic programming and transmission and as a significant locus of medical and public health intervention. Is there a potential for this research to heighten public health surveillance of and restrictions on pregnant women and mothers?  How might this new research participate in the often-troubled history of notions of the supreme role of the mother in normal and pathological development?

4:00-5:00 PM November 19, 2014

Room 405A-B, Educational Center
Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research
10th Floor, Presbyterian Hospital (PH) Building
622 W. 168th Street, New York, NY 10032