Joan H. Robinson, JD, PhD, is Associate Professor of Social Science and Law at The City College of New York, CUNY, in the Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Robinson’s first book, In Whose Hands: The Home Pregnancy Test and the Politics of Reproduction, examines how power is mediated through one type of surveillance technology, the pregnancy test.  The subjects of that surveillance are women's sexual and reproductive bodies, watched by everyone, including women themselves. 

Her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the City University of New York, The City College of New York, Columbia University, the Center for Science and Society, and the Center for Organizational Innovation.  Her scholarship has been published in the British Journal of Sociology, Social Problems, Social Studies of Science, the Journal of Family Issues, Contexts, the Routledge Handbook of Science, Technology and Society, Wisconsin Women's Law Journal, and Spontaneous Generations.  She has received numerous awards for teaching, writing, academic achievement, and pro bono legal service.  Previously, she practiced law full time as a Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society.

Her current research includes a large qualitative study with Theresa Morris (Texas A&M) examining OB/GYN education in US medical schools, an ethnography of microbial detection with Steve Nicoll and Susan Markens (CCNY and Lehman College), a quantitative study of Dobbs’ effects on maternal health with Prabal De (CCNY), and a book project on women and work in Western Pennsylvania, where she originates. If you’d like to be a participant or know more about the book project, please email me at jrobinson1@ccny.cuny.edu.