Federal policy changes, which include greater numbers of women and racial minorities in government-funded clinical trials, were designed to improve the health of these groups. Dr. Epstein explores the origins and consequences of incorporating gender and race variables into the design and evaluation of NIH-funded clinical trials and in trials of new drugs submitted for FDA approval. The intent is to: 1) identify the pressures that brought about these new "inclusionary" policies, which supplanted the prior focus of medical research almost exclusively on white men; 2) assess the impact of these policies on diversifying medical research; and 3) analyze the costs, benefits, ethical, and practical implications of biomedical diversity and equity for doctors, patients, medical researchers, drug developers, and society. Results discuss the consequences of redesigning clinical trials and whether these shifts are actually helping to achieve a more just and equitable public investment in medical research.

Steve Epstein received his B.A. from Harvard College (Social Studies) and his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley (Sociology). He is John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities and professor in the department of sociology at Northwestern University. Prior to this appointment he was a professor in the department of sociology at UCSD, where he had spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow in the Science Studies Program. His award-winning book, Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge (1996), is a study of the politicized production of knowledge in the AIDS epidemic in the U.S.; this work reflects his interest in the construction of expertise, the democratization of science, and the resolution of medical controversies. His book Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research for which he has received the Robert K. Merton Professional Award from the American Sociological Asssociation, charts the rise and assesses the consequences of new ways of managing difference (especially gender and race) within biomedical research in the U.S. He has also published articles on the sociology of sexuality and gay identities and movements. His areas of academic interest and teaching include: sociology of biomedicine, health, and illness; sociology of science and scientific knowledge; gender, sexuality, race, and biomedicine; health and inequality; science policy and health policy; social movements; sociology of sexuality; lesbian and gay studies; and sociological theory. Professor Epstein is currently the director of UCSD's Science Studies Program.