Welcome.

I am the Kim Lane Scheppele Collegiate Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Michigan.
 
I have courtesy appointments in our School of Law and the departments of Sociology, Political Science, and Health Management and Policy (School of Public Health).

My new book, HEALTH CARE CIVIL RIGHTS: How Discrimination Law Fails Patients, has just been published by University of California Press!

​You can order a paperback or access the free open access ebook version here. 
Read more about HEALTH CARE CIVIL RIGHTS and my previous books here.
ORCID | Google Scholar | Amazon | Bluesky

Recent Articles

(Direct PDF access below if available.)

Introduction to Unequal Care: Trans Medicine and Health in Dangerous Times, or download the entire Social Science & Medicine special issue

Beyond Law as a Tool of Public Health: Vaccines in Interdisciplinary Sociolegal and Science Studies

Analyzing Contracts: State of the Field, Mixed-Methods Guiding Steps, and an Illustrative Example

Protecting Care for All—Gender-Affirming Care in Section 1557 and Beyond 
 
Physicians as Political Pawns — The Texas Directive on Gender-Affirming Care and Other Moves
 
Health Insurance Rights and Access to Health Care for Trans People: The Social Construction of Medical Necessity

Dropdown Rights: Categorizing Transgender Discrimination in Healthcare Technologies
 
Civil Rights as Patient Experience: How Healthcare Organizations Handle Discrimination Complaints

Transition Coverage and Clarity in Self-Insured Corporate Health Insurance Benefit Plans

The Public’s Role in COVID-19 Vaccination: Human-centered Recommendations to Enhance Pandemic Vaccine Awareness, Access, and Acceptance in the United States

Health Coverage and Care for Transgender People — Threats and Opportunities
 
Use Science to Stop Sexual Harassment in Higher Education
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Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Public Data

OpenICPRS Repository, University of Michigan.

​These data include PDF files of 1496 health insurance contracts from the year 2019 in the United States. They come from 40 corporations [435 self-insured plans using third party administrators (TPAs)] and health insurance contracts from the individual, small group, and large group markets sold in the states of CA (852 plans) and MI (209 plans). The Excel spreadsheet is our coding sheet for all of these contracts analyzing transition related gender-affirming health care coverage options. ​

Contact

akirklan at umich.edu
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