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Elizabeth Reis

Professor Emeritus
Women's Gender and Sexuality Studies
Research Interests: Historical and contemporary analysis of medical ethics, pediatric ethics, autonomy, and religion. Prof. Reis has written recently about male circumcision, transgender issues, intersex surgeries, and informed consent.

Biography

Elizabeth Reis is Professor Emerita in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department at the University of Oregon and now teaches at the Macaulay Honors College at the City University of New York. She is the author of Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex (2009), which was published in an expanded second edition in 2021; Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England; and the editor of several books, including American Sexual Histories. Reis has published essays in the Hastings Center ReportBioethics ForumJournal of American History, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, the New York Times, and TIME Magazine. She is a member of the Ethics Committee at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Hospital and an editor of Nursing Clio, a collaborative online journal that focuses on the intersection of gender, history, and medicine. Reis is a former board member of interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth and a current board member of Talia’s Voice: Projects for Patient Safety.