Image Credit: Guide to Diagnosis and Management of Cystic Fibrosis: A Syllabus for Physicians. New York: Professional Education Committee. National Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation, 1963.

My current book project, Diagnosing Uncertainty: A Tangled History of Cystic Fibrosis and Celiac Disease, examines why diagnostic uncertainty persists in medicine and the impact of such uncertainty on patients and families. As historians have noted, physicians and patients often seek a diagnosis to find meaning and validation, to obtain effective treatment, and to reduce the stigma associated with undiagnosed disease. Using a historical approach, I examine the diagnostic process in cystic fibrosis and celiac disease from the 1930s to the present day to document the extent to which diagnostic tests align with changing disease concepts, how and why such tests are developed and utilized, their performance as tools to identify patients, and their authority relative to the patient experience. Above is an image of a person undergoing a sweat test, described at various times as the "gold standard" diagnostic test for cystic fibrosis. Following a heat wave in New York in 1948, physicians noticed that children with cystic fibrosis typically had eleveated levels of electrolytes in their sweat, prompting the development and use of many different iterations of the sweat test over the past seventy years. By examining this and other diagnostics that have been employed in the setting of cystic fibrosis and celiac disease, my work aims to better understand the process of diagnosis and the sources of diagnostic delays in medicine more broadly.

In addition to my dissertation work, I have published on topics in the biological sciences, biology education, the history of medical therapeutics and the history of biology.