Lisa Handwerker, PhD, MPH Faculty Profile

• B.A. Women's Studies and Anthropology, Oberlin College Ohio
• M.P.H. Social and Administrative Health Sciences, UC Berkeley
• PhD. Medical Anthropology, UC San Francisco and Berkeley

 Book Review Submitted, Huang Yanzhong, Governing Health in Contemporary China, Solicited by editors as an expert in the field. Review expected to appear in East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine,  #41, January 2016.

Interviewed and Quoted for an article, “Anti-Bullying Institutionalized” Parentage, Sproutlings. By Sarah Virginia White; February 4, 2015.

Op-ed, “Library Foundations ‘Adopt a Book” Campaign is Hurtful”, Berkeley Daily Planet, May 07, 2009.

“Second Step: Violence Prevention Program Revitalized In Oakland School District”, OUSD Newsletter, 2006.

“New Genetic Technologies and their Impact on Women: A Feminist Perspective” in Gender and Development, p. 114-125, May 2003.

"The Politics of Baby-Making in Modern China: Reproductive Technologies and the “New” Eugenics. Invited chapter for a book, Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and New Reproductive Technologies, edited by Marcia C. Inhorn and Frank van Balen. Berkeley: UC Press, 2002. 

Book Review of Women's Sexualities: Generations of Women Share Intimate Secrets of Self-Acceptance by Carol Rinkleib Ellison. New Harbinger Publications. In Women  and Therapy. Vol. 25, No. 1, 2002.

Book Review of Genes, Women, Equality by Mary Briody Mahowald. Oxford University Press, 2000. In Medical Anthropology Quarterly,  Winter 2002.

 “The Implications of Human Reproductive Cloning and Germ Line Alteration on Women and Women’s Health: Ten Mis-conceptions”,  www.ourbodiesourselves.org,  2001.

Co-author of “A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems”. Written by the Working Group On A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems. In Special Edition of Women and Therapy, p. 1-9, Vol 24, Numbers 1/2 July 2001 and in A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems, edited by Ellyn  Kaschak and Leonore Tiefer, New York: The Haworth Press.

Book Review of A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China's Medical History, 960-1665, by Charlotte Furth, Ph.D. Berkeley: UC Press, 1999. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, December 2000.

Co-author, "Bartering Away Women's Reproductive Health Access: Mergers and Expansion of  Religious Health Entities" in The Network News, NWHN,  July/August 2000.

Book Review of Infertility and Patriarchy: The Cultural Politics of Gender and Family Life in Egypt, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. In Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 510-512, December 1999.

"Health Commodification and the Body Politic: The Example of Female Infertility" in Embodying Bioethics: Feminist Advances edited by Anne Donchin and Laura Purdy. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Press, 1998.

Editor, Council on Anthropology and Reproduction (CAR) Newsletter.   CAR is a special committee of the Society for Medical Anthropology, a unit of the American Anthropological Association.   This official newsletter is published bi-annually; 1993-4;1995-9.

"The Consequences of Modernity for Childless Women in Contemporary China". Invited contribution to Pragmatic Women and Body Politics; Margaret Lock and Patricia A. Kaufert, eds., U.K.: Cambridge University Press. February 1998. 

"How To Select a Health Practitioner That Works for You: Some Practical Advice"; Available from author. 1998.

Co-author, "What is Managed Care" in The Network News, publication of the National Women's Health Network; May/June 1997. 

"The Hen that Can't Lay An Egg": Conceptions of Female Infertility in Modern China", in Deviant Bodies, Jacqueline Urla and Jennifer Terry, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995, pp. 358-387.

The Social and Ethical Implications of In-vitro Fertilization in Contemporary China". In Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, Vol. 4, Issue 3, Summer 1995.

"Medical Risk: Implicating Poor Pregnant Women". In Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 38, No. 5, pp. 665-675, March 1994.

"Yi Xue Ren Lei Xue Ji Qi Yu Zhongguo Chengshi Wenti de Guanxi"(Medical Anthropology and its Relevance to Chinese Urban Problems) in Dushi Ren Lei Xue (Urban  Anthro). Translator Fang Su Mei. People's Cultural Publishing House:  Beijing, 1991 .

"Rural Health Care in China". In Synapse, Vol 32, No 19, UC San Francisco Medical School; Feb 25 1988.

"U.S. Human Health Resources Directed Towards Latin America". A professional report compiled as a consultant for the Western Health Consortium and Pan American Health Organization; 65 pages; 1987.

Fundraising for You and Your Community. Center for Health Services, Nashville, TN; 1982.

National Women's Health Network, Washington, D.C. Wrote several articles for a bi monthly newsletter; 1997-8 and 1980.

New Genetic Technologies: Impact on Women, International Women’s  Conference in Guadalajara , Mexico,  2003.

“Social Inequality Pervades: The Implications of Human Cloning and Germ line Therapy for Women and Women’s Health”. Presented at A Conference ‘Behind Many Masks’ Gerald Berreman and Berkeley Anthropology, 1959-2001, Organized by the Kroeber Anthropological Society, and Anthropology Graduate Organization, April 6, 2001.

“The Implications of New Genetic Technologies on Women and Women’s Health: Ten Mis-conceptions”, Presented at a symposium organized by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and The Exploratory Initiative on New Human Genetic Technologies, SF,  March 2001.

"Honoring Joan Ablon: Professor as Mentor and Mensch", Paper presented on a panel at The American Anthropological Association Meetings, Nov. 2000

Radio, Interviewed for KQED Morning Show on September 1999   (Hospital Merger) and February 2000 (Midwives in Crisis).

Invited discussant for Monica Casper's book, The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery for presentation at Stanford University, Medical Humanities Work Group, October 4, 1999.

Invited guest speaker on KPFA Radio Station. August 24, 1999, Discussed the social and medical ethics of egg donation on "The Living Room"; September 15, 1999, "Impact of Social and Ethical  Catholic Directives on Local Hospital Merger"; February 2000. One hour show produced by Judith Campbell, interviewed by Chris Welch.

A Conversation with Anthropologists on "What is Art For?", an exhibit with 100 artists at the Oakland Art Museum. Invited Speaker, March 1999.

"High Tech Reproductive Medicine for Infertile Couples: The Politics of Making Modern Babies", Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, December 1998.

Discussant for American Anthropological Association (AAA) panel "Reproduction: Policies and Anthropological Praxis". Washington, D.C., November 1997.

"Understanding Infertility Practices: What's Different About Reproductive Technologies in China?" Paper presentation at Annual Anthropology Meetings D.C.,  November 1997.

"Health Commodification and the Body Politic: The Example of Female Infertility in China", Invited speaker to Pacific Women's Health Institute, Los Angeles. October 1997.

"The Contribution of Medical Anthropology to Women's Health", Invited Speaker to Stanford University's Cowell Hospital Brown Bag Lunch Series. February 1997

"The Hen that Can't Lay An Egg: Female Infertility in Modern China",  Invited Speaker to Stanford University Eastfest Series. Theme of  Sex and Sexuality in Asia. February 1997.

"The Commodification of Health Care and Infertility Treatment: Social and Ethical Implications for Diverse Women in Modern China" paper for the Third World Congress of Bioethics in San  Francisco, CA. November 1996.

"The Changing Chinese Health Care System: Implications for Infertile Women" presented at the American Anthropological Association meeting in San Francisco, CA. November 1996.

Conference Organizer and Presenter. "Genetic Testing And You A Critical View," UC Berkeley Institute for Social Change. Fall 1996.

"The Social Significance of Female Infertility" at Stanford University, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, 1996.

"Redefining Women's Reproductive Roles: Voluntary Childlessness in Contemporary China" Presented at the American  Anthropological Association meetings, Washington D.C., November 1995.

"Bioethical Dimensions of Reproductive Technologies in Modern China", Bioethics Beyond Borders Conference, Congress Program, Sponsored by the Italian Consulate, UC Berkeley, June

"An interview with Lisa Handwerker" by Reyna Cowan. KPFA Radio Station. A half hour interview on China research. February 1995.

"'Are you pregnant yet?': An Analysis of Gender, Reproduction, and Sexuality Among Infertile Women in Contemporary China". UCB Center for Chinese Studies Symposium on "Desire, Sexuality, and the Body in Late Imperial and Modern  China”, October 1994.       

"Medicalization and Resistance: The Case of Female Infertility in Modern China", Paper presented on the panel, "Women and Biopower: What Constitutes Resistance?" organized by C.H. Browner, American Ethnological Society Meetings, Los Angeles; April 1994.

"International Perspectives: Reports From Abroad", Session chair and presenter at the Fourth Annual Congress of Healthcare Ethics and Ethics Committees, "Designs on Life: Choice, Control, and Responsibility in Genetic Manipulation Conference", co-sponsored by the International Bioethics Institute and the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, April 1994.

"The Hen that Can't Lay An Egg: China's Birth Policy Reexamined", Invited Main Speaker for the Annual Meeting of the Association of American University Women (AAUW), Danville Chapter, April 1994.

"Translating Women's Reproductive Health Research into Policy: What  is the Future for Anthropology?", Invited session to the American Anthropological Association Meetings, Washington, D.C.  Co-organizer and Co-chair; November 1993.

"Popular and Scientific Representations of AIDS in Modern China: Cultural Values, (Mis)Conceptions, and Policy Implications", Paper for American Anthropological Association, D.C.; Nov 1993.

"The Hen That Can't Lay An Egg: Conceptions of Female Infertility in Modern China", Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, New York; June 1993. (Accepted paper but unable to attend)

The Convergence of "Tradition" and "Modernity" on Infertile Female Bodies in Late Twentieth Century People's Republic of China", Paper presented at the Association for Asian Studies Meetings, Los Angeles, CA; March 25-28 1993.

"A Narrative of National Crisis: Overpopulation and Female Bodies in Late Twentieth Century People's Republic of China", Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, San Francisco, CA; December 2-6, 1992.

"Modernization and (Re)production: The Female Body as the Site of Competing National Desires in the People's Republic of China", presented at the Social Science and Technology Conference, Goteborg, Sweden; August 1992.

"The Infertile Female Body in the Chinese Context", Paper presented to the Reproductive Health Study Group, Berkeley, CA; May 1992.

"Stigmatizing Beliefs: Infertility in the People's Republic of China", Paper presented at the Southwest Anthropological Association Meetings, Berkeley; April 1992.

"Contending Ideologies: Gender, (Re)production, and the State in the People's Republic for China", presented at the Women and Anthropology Conference, Cal State University, Sacramento; March 21-23, 1992.

"Reproduction, Gender, and the State: Infertility in the Chinese Context", Paper presented at the American Anthropological Association Meetings, Chicago; November 20‑24, 1991.

"The Hen that Can't Lay an Egg (Bu Xia Dan De Mu Ji): Preliminary Thoughts on Infertility research in Beijing, China", Paper presented at UCB, Center for Chinese Studies Seminar, 1991.

"The Hen that Can't Lay an Egg (Bu Xia Dan De Mu Ji): Theoretical and Methodological Concerns About Conducting Infertility Research in China." Invited talk at UCSF, Medical Anthropology Program; 1991.

"Medical Risk: Implications for Poor Pregnant Women Seeking Prenatal Care", Paper presented at the Kroeber Anthropological Society Meetings, UC Berkeley; April 1991.

"Medical Anthropology and it's Relevance to China", Paper presented at the First Urban Anthropology Conference in Beijing, China; December 1989‑January 1990.

"Gender, Representation and Other: Women in an Anthropological Analysis of Ethnographies on China", Paper presented at West Coast Asian Studies Meetings, University of Seattle, Washington; October 1988.

"Dominant Discourse on Chinese and Asians in Alameda County: Myth or Reality?", Paper presented at the Kroeber Anthropological  Society Meetings, UC Berkeley; April 1988.

"Rural Health Care in China: New Trends", presented at the Southwest Anthropological Assoc Meetings in Monterrey, CA; March 1988. 

"The Impact of New Economic Reforms on the Chinese Health Care System in the 1980s", Guest Lecture, UCB, School of Public Health, Comparative Health Care Systems; 1988.