LBC COURSES

• Constructing the Body
• Feminist Science & Technology Studies
• Medicine & Health
• Narratives of Mental Illness
• Reproductive Health & Society
• Science and the Public
• Science of Sex and Gender

---

BIOGRAPHY

stef m. shuster is an associate professor in Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. Their current research and teaching - in gender, medicine, and feminist science and technology studies - considers how evidence is constructed, mobilized, and weaponized in social life. shuster currently serves on the editorial boards for Social Science & Medicine, Social Currents, and Contemporary Sociology and is a deputy editor for Gender & Society.

---

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., Sociology, with a certificate in Gender Studies, University of Iowa
• B.A., Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington

---

RESEARCH

The social life of evidence is the subject of shuster’s book, Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender (NYU Press, 2021). In Trans Medicine, they trace the development of this medical field from the 1950s to modern medicine to show how providers create and use scientific and medical evidence to “treat” a gender identity. But, why do medical providers have authority over gender? And, what might the consequences of how providers make decisions in trans medicine teach us about medicine in general? Trans Medicine offers a rare opportunity to understand how providers make decisions given widespread uncertainty while facing challenges to their expertise. In the process of negotiating these challenges in the “treatment” of gender, shuster shows how providers have acquired authority not only in this medical area, but over gender itself.

---

PUBLICATIONS

Books

• shuster, stef. 2021. Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender. New York: NYU Press.

Journal Articles

• shuster, stef. "The Assertion of Reproductive and Social Control in Mid-twentieth Century US Transgender Medicine." Gender & History. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0424.12727
• Westbrook, Laurel and stef shuster. “Trans Joy: Flipping the Scrip of Marginality.” Contexts (equal authorship).
• Rogers, Ethan, Andrew Krajewski, and stef shuster. 2023. “The Disproportionate Mental Health Burden Among Incarcerated Transgender and Gender Diverse People." Journal of Correctional Health Care 29(1): 39-46.
• shuster, stef and Laurel Westbrook. Forthcoming. “Reducing the Joy Deficit in Sociology: A Study of Transgender Joy.” Social Problems. (equal authorship) https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spac034
• Campos-Castillo, Celeste and stef shuster. 2023. “So What if They’re Lying to Us? Comparing Rhetorical Strategies for Discrediting Sources of Disinformation and Misinformation using an Affect-based Credibility Rating.” American Behavioral Scientist 67(2): 201-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211066058
• Hsieh, Ning and stef shuster. 2021. “Health and Health Care of Sexual and Gender Minorities.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 62(3): 318-333. (equal authorship)
• Campos-Castillo, Celeste, stef shuster, Denise Anthony, and Sarah Groh. 2020. “Warning: Hegemonic Masculinity May Not Matter as Much as You Think for Confidant Patterns among Older Men.” Sex Roles. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01131-3
• Bodenheimer, Grayson and stef shuster. 2020. “Emotional Labour, Teaching, and Burnout: Investigating Complex Relationships.” Educational Research 62(1): 63-76.
• shuster, stef. 2019. “Performing Informed Consent in Transgender Medicine.” Social Science & Medicine 226: 190-197.
• shuster, stef. 2019. “Quaring the Queer in Appalachia.” Appalachian Journal 46(1-2): 72-87.
• shuster, stef. 2017. “Punctuating Accountability: How Discursive Aggression Regulates Transgender People.” Gender & Society 31(4): 481-502.
• shuster, stef and Celeste Campos-Castillo. 2017. “Measuring Resonance and Dissonance in Social Movement Frames With Affect Control Theory.” Social Psychology Quarterly 80(1): 20-40.
• shuster, stef. 2016. “Uncertain Expertise and the Limitations of Clinical Guidelines in Transgender Healthcare.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 57(3): 319-32.

---

GRANTS

• 2023-2028 "CAREER: The Consequences of Efforts to Control Human Reproduction for Science and Medicine." National Science Foundation, Faculty Early Career Development Program ($405,585)
• 2024-2025 “Trans Reproduction: Creating Productive and Socially Fit Transgender People, 1950s-1970s.” National Endowment for the Humanities ($60,000)
• 2020-2021 “Social, Economic, and Health Consequences of COVD-19 Among Sexual and Gender Minorities of Color.” College of Social Science Covid-19 Grant, Michigan State University ($5,000) [with co-PI Ning Hsieh]
• 2019-2021 “Treating Gender: Transgender Medicine and Uncertain Expertise.” Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) Development Grant, Vice President for Research and Innovation, Michigan State University ($25,000)
• 2019-2020 “Underutilization of Healthcare and Barriers to Care among LGBTQ People of Color.” Diversity Research Network, Launch Award Program, Michigan State University ($4,200) [with co-PI Ning Hsieh]

---

HONORS & AWARDS

• 2024 Award for Outstanding Family Public Scholarship, Council on Contemporary Families.
• 2023 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award, Graduate College, Michigan State University
• 2023 Honorable Mention, Best Book Award, Section on the Body and Embodiment, American Sociological Association
• 2023 Honorable Mention, Donald W. Light Book Award, Section on Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association
• 2023 Outstanding Article Award, Gender Division, Society for the Study of Social Problems
• 2023 Outstanding Article Award, Theory Division, Society for the Study of Social Problems
• 2022 Teacher-Scholar Award, Michigan State University
• 2021 Donald W. Light Award for the Applied or Public Practice of Medical Sociology, American Sociological Association Section on Medical Sociology

---

LINKS

Curriculum vitae

Personal website

---