Terri Kapsalis

Terri Kapsalis is an Adjunct Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), teaching in the Visual and Critical Studies and Liberal Arts departments. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan (1988) and a MA/PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University (1994). Her work bridges academia, art, and activism, focusing on gender, race, medicine, and performance. Notable projects include Jane Addams' Travel Medicine Kit, Hysterical Alphabet, and Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum, which merges art, history, and medical critique. Kapsalis co-founded the Trans Health Program and Integrative Health Program at the Chicago Women’s Health Center and co-created the podcast Mirror and a Flashlight. She is also an improvisational violinist and founding member of Theater Oobleck.

Her courses, such as Wandering Uterus: Gender, Race, and Medicine, explore intersections of cultural, historical, and scientific perspectives on health and identity. She has co-edited anthologies like Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro Black, and Other Solar Myths and co-curated the Pathways to Unknown Worlds exhibition. Kapsalis’ interdisciplinary approach integrates art, activism, and academic research, addressing feminist health movements, queer/trans health, and the legacy of medical injustices rooted in race and gender.