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Acknowledgments

Whenever I stop to consider how many people’s generosity, wisdom, and support have helped me bring this project to fruition, I am both awestruck and profoundly grateful. I hope that these acknowledgments go some small way toward expressing my appreciation.

To the respondents who participated in this research, I owe a great debt. The generosity with which many busy people met my requests for their time, their stories, their aspirations, and their insights made this research possible. Moreover, the passion, humor, and consideration expressed in these meetings made conducting the research a true pleasure. I am grateful to Richard Sharp, for bringing me into the Program in Environmental Health Ethics and Policy at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) as an intern in 2002, and to Ben Van Houten, who generously agreed to be my science mentor that summer.

The first round of data collection and analysis was guided by my wonderful dissertation advisor, Adele Clarke, to whom I am forever indebted for introducing me to science and technology studies (STS) and qualitative research methods; this project would not have happened without her. Meeting with Adele and the members of my committee—Howard Pinderhughes, Paul Rabinow, and Sharon Kaufman—was always both helpful and a delight. I am grateful for the guidance, friendship, and inspiration of each of these scholars.

The second round of data collection was facilitated by the DeWitt Stetten, Jr., Memorial Fellowship in the History of Biomedical Sciences and Technology at the Office of NIH History. In addition to the collegial environment of the Office of NIH History, I benefited tremendously from the opportunity to continue conducting interviews and observation at the NIEHS. I especially thank Kenneth Olden, Raymond Tennant, Samuel Wilson, and Mary Wolfe for their support of my fellowship.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJ) Health and Society Scholars Program at Columbia University was a transformative experience. I am a better—and braver—sociologist thanks to the mentorship of Peter Bearman. I learned important lessons about how to be an advocate for my ideas from Bruce Link. I am grateful to David Rosner, Ezra Susser, and Ruth Ottman, each of whom, in his or her own way, has helped me to better understand public health and to crystallize my commitment to it. I also thank Peter Bearman, Molly Martin, and Jeremy Freese for helping me “think with” genetics in new and productive ways.

Since 2006, I have had the great fortune to be on the faculty at Brandeis University. I thank my colleagues in sociology for their support and enthusiasm for my research and teaching. I am especially indebted to Peter Conrad for bringing to his role as my faculty mentor both wisdom and good cheer. Teaching the Approaches to Social Research proseminar with Wendy Cadge and David Cunningham has been a treat, as well as a valuable opportunity to think critically about knowledge production in the social sciences. I am grateful also to the faculty in the Health: Science, Society, and Policy (HSSP) and Environmental Studies Programs for the opportunity to create innovative learning experiences at the intersection of disciplines. I consider myself extremely fortunate to teach and learn from the many wonderful students at Brandeis, whose commitments to social justice inspire and sustain my own.

I gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Program in Science, Technology, and Society for a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. I am thankful also for generous funding from the UC Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program, the UC Berkeley Program in Social Studies of Science and Technology, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, and the Graduate Division of UCSF. I thank the UC Humanities Research Institute both for a White Fellowship in Medicine and the Humanities and for the opportunity to participate in the Resident Research Group on Health and Place. When I arrived at Columbia University, this research was further supported with a seed grant from the RWJ Health & Society Scholars Program. Completing and illustrating the manuscript were made possible thanks to a grant from Brandeis University’s Theodore and Jane Norman Fund for Faculty Research.

I delight in the collective and collaborative nature of sociological research and am thankful for the many excellent comments I’ve received on this work. The analysis was certainly improved by the insights of participants at meetings of the American Sociological Association, the Society for Social Studies of Science, and the RJW Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program. Likewise, I have benefited from the opportunity to give papers at Brown University (at varying times to the Contested Illness Research Group, the Program in Science and Technology Studies, and the Race and Genomics Lecture Series), the Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science, the Harvard University Science and Technology Studies Circle, the National Institutes of Health, the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, the Department of Sociology and the Science and Justice Working Group at UC Santa Cruz, and the Departments of Sociology and of Anthropology, History, and Social Medicine at UC San Francisco.

For their time and consideration in reading drafts of chapters—and, in some instances, the entire manuscript—I offer my heartfelt thanks to Rene Almeling, Peter Bearman, Debbie Becher, Jason Beckfield, Ruha Benjamin, Catherine Bliss, Phil Brown, Wendy Cadge, Monica Casper, Peter Conrad, David Cunningham, Scott Frickel, Micah Kleit, Sabrina McCormick, Alondra Nelson, Aaron Panofsky, David Pellow, Jenny Reardon, Sarah Richardson, David Rosner, Natasha Schull, Janet Shim, Stefan Timmermans, Jocelyn Viterna, and Peter Wissoker. For helping me navigate my way through the writings of Pierre Bourdieu, I thank Aaron Panofsky, Rebecca Lave, and Catherine Bliss. I am grateful to Phil Brown for suggesting that I write what became the Afterword, and for being a role model for scholars interested in the intersections between sociology, health, and the environment. I really could not ask for better colleagues and am happy to count so many of these scholars as my friends.

I am indebted to Phil Brown and David Rosner for directing me to Hannah Love, the editor for health at the University of California Press. Hannah guided the manuscript through the review process with a mix of intelligence and grace that was a true blessing for a new author. I was privileged, then, to work with Naomi Schneider during the process of revising and bringing the manuscript to press. I thank Chris Lura and Francisco Reinking for their skillful project management.

No words are adequate to express my appreciation to my friends for the love, cheerleading, solace, and great company that they have provided in the decade it took me to complete this project. I trust that you know who you are when I say thank you for taking long walks with me, inviting me to stay with you (in California each winter, in New York year-round), indulging my need for adventures (especially by the ocean), showing up (sometimes across great distances) without my even asking, offering your home as a writing retreat (and writing there with me), sharing summer veggies (thank you to Waltham Fields Community Farm for the veggies themselves), sitting with me in silence (even for a week at a time), going out with me to hear music (as well as being the source of that music), encouraging me to bike and to read and to garden and to cook, and, in so many ways, reminding me of all that is beautiful in the world. Two very young people brought especial gifts: Jackson and Arabella. Thank you for singing to my Mom—and me—during difficult moments.

Finally, I humbly offer boundless love and gratitude to my family. To my father, Peter, whose unwavering faith in me and my abilities set me on the right path and, when needed, helped me keep moving forward. To Eli and Erin, whom I would choose to have by my side in any situation, and to Delia Jane, whose presence brings such joy. To Matt, who gave me safe harbor when I needed it most and seems to be able to make me laugh in any situation. A Kauany, minha linda enteada. And to my mother, Myra, whose unending strength, ability to love, capacity for amazement, and commitment to “turn toward gratitude” made me who I am and continue to inspire me every day.