Professor Jill A. Fisher’s book, Adverse Events Race, Inequality, and the Testing of New Pharmaceuticals has been awarded the prestigious Robert K. Merton Book Award. The award, given by the Science, Knowledge, and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association. The Merton Award is given annually in recognition of an outstanding book on science, knowledge, and/or technology published during the preceding three years.
Adverse Events focuses on healthy volunteers’ participation in Phase I clinical trials. Healthy volunteers gain no health benefits and expose themselves to risks for the stipends that pharmaceutical companies pay for their time. NYU Press published Adverse Events in 2020.
Jill Fisher is a social scientist with a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and expertise in medical sociology. Her research interests include social studies of the pharmaceutical industry, clinical trials, political economy, healthcare, and social inequalities, and research ethics. Dr. Fisher, Professor of Social Medicine in the UNC School of Medicine, is a core faculty member in the UNC Center for Bioethics.