Email:
lwahlert@sas.upenn.edu

Education:
B.A., English literature;
The Johns Hopkins University
M.A., Humanities;
The Johns Hopkins University
M.Sc., History of Science and Medicine;
The Imperial College of Medicine (London)
Ph.D., English;
The University of Pennsylvania

Description of BIOETHICS Expertise

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Sexuality and gender identity, history of medicine, queer theory, disability studies, 19th- and 20th-century literature, cinema studies.

ABOUT:
Lance Wahlert is a Fellow in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy in the Perelman School of Medicine, and an affiliated faculty member in the Departments of English, Cinema Studies, and the History and Sociology of Science in the School of Arts & Sciences. Lance teaches classes on narrative theory, medical history, digital media, and clinical ethics mediation in the Master of Bioethics (MBE) Program. He also serves as the Director of the Project on Bioethics, Sexuality, and Gender Identity, which has demarcated a subfield within bioethics that focuses on the intersection of LGBTQ issues and medical ethics. (http://www.queerbioethics.org/)

In addition to receiving his Ph.D. in English at Penn, Lance is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in medical history and English literature and an M.A. in Humanities specializing in Irish poetry and medical history. He also earned a First Class Honors M.Sc. in History of Science, Medicine and Technology from The Imperial College of Medicine (London), as well as the dissertation prize for his thesis on the cultural history of homosexuality in German, British, and North American cinemas. He has held residential fellowships at the University of Oslo, Trinity College Dublin, Queen's University Belfast, King's College London, and the British Film Institute.

Lance's scholarly interests include the historiographical legacy of the healthcare concerns of LGBTQ persons, the impact of cinematic genres on cultural histories, the authority of medical iconography in art and media, and the relationship between literary narratives and visual forms of storytelling.

Having been funded by the Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and the Pew Foundation, Lance’s work has been featured in publications including The American Journal of Bioethics, The Journal of Medical Humanities, The Journal of Homosexuality, and The Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.

selected publications

“The Painful Reunion: The Remedicalization of Homosexuality and the Rise of the Queer,” The Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 9:3 (September 2012).

“Gender Transports: Privileging the ‘Natural’ in Gender Testing Debates for Intersex and Transgender Athletes,” co-authored with Autumn Fiester. American Journal of Bioethics 12:7 (July 2012).

“IVF Treatment for an HIV-Discordant, Transgender Couple: The Questions We Should Not Ask” co-authored with Autumn Fiester and Timothy F. Murphy. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 21:2 (April 2012).

“Queer Bioethics: Why Its Time Has Come,” co-authored with Autumn Fiester. Bioethics 26:1 (2012).

“Failing Those at Ground Zero... Again: American Public Health Responses to AIDS and 9/11,” co-authored with Autumn Fiester. American Journal of Bioethics 11:9 (September 2011).

“The Re-Queering of HIV Testing Practices and the Reinforcement of Stigma in Recent CDC Policies,” co-authored with Autumn Fiester. American Journal of Bioethics 11:4 (April 2011).