Public Shaping of Medical Research

Peter WehlingPeter Wehling currently is senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology at Goethe-University, Frankfurt/Main (Germany); until the end of 2013 he directed the research project "Participatory Governance of Science" at the University of Augsburg. His research interests include science and technology studies, sociology of knowledge and ignorance, sociology of health and illness, and sociological theory and critical sociology. Among his recent publications are: Entgrenzung der Medizin, co-edited with Willy Viehöver, Bielefeld 2011; Fighting a losing battle? The right not to know and the dynamics of biomedical knowledge production, in M. Gross and L. McGoey (eds) Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies, London/New York, forthcomingWilly ViehöverWilly Viehöver is a senior researcher at the University of Augsburg (Germany) and currently visiting professor at the Department of Sociology. His main research interests include discourse and narrative analysis, qualitative social research, sociology of health and illness, policy analysis, science and technology studies, sociology of knowledge, and sociological theory. His recent publications include: Governing the Planetary Greenhouse in Spite of Scientific Uncertainty, which appeared in Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, 6(2), in 2010, and: Zivilgesellschaft und Wissenschaft – Ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Konflikt und Kooperation, co-authored with Peter Wehling, which appeared in Sozialwissenschaften und Berufspraxis (SuB), 35(2), in 2010Sophia KoenenSophia Koenen is currently working at the Department of Medical Sociology at the University of Regensburg as a researcher and teacher of undergraduate studies. She is involved in an interdisciplinary project on the public communication of genetic risk factors of widespread diseases, specifically Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). Until the end of 2013, Sophia Koenen was part of the research project "Participatory Governance of Science" at the Institute of Sociology at Augsburg University. She successfully earned her Master of Arts at the University of Augsburg in March 2014. Her scientific interest focuses on qualitative research in sociology of health and illness

‘The Public Shaping of Medical Research is an interesting and thought-provoking book. Throughout, it is clear that patients and patient stories play a key role in shaping the biomedical landscape. What many of the chapters have successfully achieved is to represent the struggles of patient collectives in advancing medical knowledge and supporting the needs of their populations. These journeys involve success and failure, and choices about how to collaborate, with whom, and with what agenda…With its successful inclusion of a variety of voices, approaches, topics and methods, The Public Shaping of Medical Research will find an equally wide-ranging - and appreciative - audience.’ – New Genetics and Society‘This is a highly readable and informative book, with strong themes developed in a wide range of theoretical and practical directions.’ – Sociology of Health and Illness

• Introduction: Patient Associations, Health Social Movements and the Public Shaping of Biomedical Research: An Introduction Part 1: Empirical Cases and Theoretical Perspectives 1. A Seat at the Table, "a Lab of Our Own" and Working with What We Know Now: How the U.S. Environmental Breast Cancer Movement Shapes Research 2. Initiating and Funding Medical Research on a Rare Disease: The Approach of the German Cystic Fibrosis Association 3. EURORDIS: Empowering Patients Living with Rare Diseases to Participate in Biomedical Knowledge Production 4. The Entanglement of Scientific and Political Claims: Towards a New Form of Patients’ Activism 5. Obesity, the Alternative Food Movement, and Complete Streets: New Forms of ‘Patient’ Activism and the Evolution of Health Social Movements Part 2: Shifting Contexts and New Challenges 6. Autism, the Internet and Medicalization 7. A Community Fractured: Canada’s Breast Cancer Movement, Pharmaceutical Company Funding, and Science-Related Advocacy 8. Beyond Scientific Controversies: Scientific Counterpublics, Countervailing Industries, and Undone Science 9. Interpellating Patients as Future Users of Biomedical Technologies: The Case of Patient Associations and Stem Cell Research 10. Patient Organizations as Biosocial Communities? Conceptual Clarifications and Critical Remarks Part 3: Democratizing Biomedicine? The Role of Patient Associations and Health Social Movements 11. Changing Contexts for Science and Society Interaction: From Deficit to Dialogue, from Dialogue to Participation- and beyond? 12. The Virtues (and Some Perils) of Activist Participation: The Political and Epistemic Legitimacy of Patient Activism 13. The Ethical Legitimacy of Patient Organizations’ Involvement in Politics and Knowledge Production: Epistemic Justice as a Conceptual Basis 14. Conclusion: Effects of and Challenges to the Public Shaping of Medical Research