Kristin Barker

Professor Kristin Barker is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology at the University of New Mexico. Her research focuses on the sociology of health and medicine, gender, science and knowledge, and qualitative methods. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1993). Her work examines contested illnesses, medical uncertainty, and the intersections of gender with healthcare systems. Recent studies include investigations into long COVID, medical ignorance during pandemics, and online patient advocacy.

Her influential book, The Fibromyalgia Story, explores how medical authority interacts with women’s experiences of pain. Courses she teaches include Sociological Theory, Sociology of Madness, and graduate-level medical sociology.

Publications span topics like pharmaceutical advertising, patient-generated media, and neurocriminology. Her research emphasizes marginalized voices and challenges in healthcare access, particularly for low-income populations.