BIOGRAPHY

Miranda Waggoner is an associate professor of sociology at Rice University. Her research examines how social structure and culture shape biomedical knowledge production, medical care, and public health practice, with a particular focus on gender, reproduction, and inequality. She is the author of the award-winning book The Zero Trimester (University of California Press), and her current book project examines the changing cultural, ethical, and regulatory context surrounding biomedical research in pregnancy.

Originally from Texas, Waggoner earned her Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Brandeis University in 2011. She then held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Before joining the faculty at Rice, Waggoner earned tenure at Florida State University, where she received a University Teaching Award. Professor Waggoner is an alumna of the Greenwall Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics (2019–2022), and she is the recipient of a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.

At Rice, Waggoner is also affiliated with the Medical Humanities Program, the Science and Technology Studies Program, the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, and the Baker Institute for Public Policy.