Biography

Rachel Fox (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Grand Valley State University. Broadly, her research examines the relationship between medicine, public health, and stigma. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she draws opportunistically on fields such as fat studies, science and technology studies, and medical sociology and uses both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Her most recent research project uncovered the ways that pharmaceutical companies and patient-interest groups have used the idea of "fighting weight stigma" to garner support for weight loss drugs. Based on this research, Fox was featured as a weight stigma expert in the documentary The Cost of Losing: The Risks and Rewards of the Weight-Loss-Drugs Boom.

In addition to her more theoretical work, Fox has spent over a decade fighting to reduce weight stigma in healthcare. She has designed numerous weight stigma interventions for health professionals and health professions students, collaborating with Planned Parenthood, the University of the Pacific School of Health Sciences, and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She has advised several medical student capstone research projects and currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Medical Students for Size Inclusivity.

At GVSU, Fox teaches classes in the Integrative Studies major and the Honors College and is passionate about mentoring undergraduate and graduate researchers. She is currently advising several projects about weight stigma in healthcare, and is available to advise students undertaking research that critically examines science, technology, and/or medicine.

Before joining Grand Valley, Fox received her PhD in Communication with a concentration in Science Studies and a specialization in Critical Gender Studies from UC San Diego. She holds a BA in Biology from Wesleyan University, an MS in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University, and an MA in Communication from UC San Diego.

I am a proud cat mom to Nova (left) and Aurora (right).