معرفی
Risa Cromer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University, where she was promoted in 2024. Her nationally recognized work bridges cultural anthropology, bioethics, and social justice, focusing on reproductive politics, race, disability, and the sociotechnical dimensions of medicine and science.
Her educational background includes a Ph.D. and M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a B.A. in Gender Studies from Willamette University, and a Graduate Certificate in Women's Studies from CUNY. These interdisciplinary foundations underpin her critical approach to bioethical controversies.
Dr. Cromer's research examines how reproductive technologies like embryo adoption become sites of racialized saviorism and political contestation, particularly in Christian nationalist movements. Her scholarship extends to menstrual health justice among homeless populations, the impact of "fetal burial" laws, and the role of technology in bodily autonomy. She actively translates anthropological insights into advocacy through grassroots reproductive justice work.
Her recent publications reveal consistent engagement with marginalized communities, analyzing how policies and technologies affect reproductive experiences across race, class, and disability. The work demonstrates a trajectory from theoretical critique toward community-centered interventions, especially evident in her pandemic-era menstrual health research.
She has secured competitive research funding from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Brocher Foundation, Stanford University, and CUNY. Her applied work includes mental health services research for veterans and direct community action as a full-spectrum doula, talkline advocate, and abortion access organizer.
