Jaipreet Virdi

Dr. Jaipreet Virdi is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Victoria, specializing in the history of disability, science, technology, and medicine. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology and has held prestigious fellowships at the Max Planck Institute and Brock University. Her research bridges academic scholarship with public engagement, focusing on how medical and technological interventions shape disabled lives.

• BA: York University
• MA, PhD: Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto

Her research centers on disability history, particularly the intersections of technology, medicine, and identity. She explores how deafness has been historically pathologized and how assistive devices like hearing aids are sites of cultural and political resistance. She also investigates endometriosis as an invisible illness, analyzing how gender, race, and cultural stigma affect diagnosis and care, especially within South Asian communities. Her work in material culture examines how everyday objects reflect and shape disabled experiences.

Her recent publications span topics from deaf futurity and respiratory technologies to colonial pharmaceuticals and feminist health networks. These works reveal a consistent focus on marginalized voices, patient agency, and the co-production of medical knowledge. Her scholarship demonstrates a deep commitment to making historical insights accessible beyond academia.

Her awards include the British Society for the History of Science Hughes Prize (2021), the American Association for the History of Medicine Welch Award (2022), and the Disability History Association Best Article Award. She is also an Organization of American Historians (OAH) Distinguished Lecturer, underscoring her national impact in public history.

Dr. Virdi is actively involved in mentoring through public scholarship and community-based research. She leads a CIHR-funded project on endometriosis and feminist health networks, advocating for accessible healthcare and disability justice. Her work is supported by grants that enable oral history collection and interdisciplinary collaboration.

She co-leads the Objects of Disability project, which investigates the design and cultural meaning of assistive technologies. This initiative brings together historians, designers, and disabled communities to rethink the narratives embedded in everyday objects.