About

My research interfaces the colonial intimacies of science, technology, and medicine in relation to the experiences of queer and trans people of color. As such, my current research agenda upcycles three propositions with their own interlinked trajectories across my projects: settler colonialism methodologizes, technologizes, and biomedicalizes, with each branch serving as a prong for my overall plans. On the subpages under this one, you will find overviews of current projects under each of these prongs. Many of these projects stem from my awards-winning dissertation, Toward a Virulent Community Literacy: Constellating the Science, Technology, and Medicine of Queer Sexual Health, which sets the stage for a forthcoming book project (which you can read about at this link).

As a community-engaged scholar whose training begins in community settings, I am attuned to the social justice turns of the fields in which I locate my work. As an organizer and activist who has worked some time for and with Latinx, Indigenous, and queer/trans communities in Lansing, MI, my experiences in these settings therefore activate and steer my overall research agenda. Having worked with numerous partners, I have learned a central, energizing maxim: community knows best for itself. I therefore follow the protocol of an insurgent researcher—via Indigenous methodologies—to leverage findings from my research projects to advance knowledge about health and wellness born in queer and trans communities of color within healthcare and public health settings. In this manner, my community engagement and my research are deeply entangled.