Jill Fisher

Jill Fisher is a Professor in the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Medicine and a core faculty member of the UNC Center for Bioethics. With a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, her research examines social inequalities in commercialized medicine, focusing on clinical trials and research ethics.

• Education: PhD (2005), MS (2002) in Science & Technology Studies (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute); BA in Psychology-Based Human Relations and French (1998, Connecticut College)

Her scholarship includes three books and over 50 peer-reviewed publications, funded by NIH and NSF grants. Current projects explore pediatric food allergy clinical trials and dual-career academic couples' institutional challenges. She advocates for equitable research participant compensation and co-developed the Partner Hire Scorecard to rank U.S. universities' dual-career policies.

Recent publications address global ethics charters for healthy volunteers, regulatory gaps in clinical trial compensation, and family experiences in pediatric allergy trials. Her work spans medical sociology, bioethics, RFID surveillance in hospitals, and qualitative methods.

• Awards:
  • 2021 Robert K. Merton Book Award (for Adverse Events)
  • 2022 Donald W. Light Book Award for Applied Medical Sociology (for Adverse Events)