Monica J. Casper

Dr. Monica J. Casper is a sociologist, bioethicist, creative writer, and breast cancer survivor who studies gender, health, bodies, disability, violence, and trauma.

A native Chicagoan, she earned her B.A. at the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. at the University of California, San Francisco. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in bioethics at Stanford University. 

Dr. Casper is a professor of sociology and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Seattle University. Previously she held leadership roles at San Diego State University, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Vanderbilt University.

She is the author of eight books, including "Babylost: Racism, Survival, and the Quiet Politics of Infant Mortality, From A to Z (Rutgers University Press, 2022)," numerous journal articles, and more than 60 essays and op-eds. 

Her most recent book is a co-edited collection, "Betrayal U: The Politics of Belonging in Higher Education," published by the University of Arizona Press in 2025.

Dr. Casper is currently researching traumatic brain injury, with Daniel Morrison; vulvar health and politics, with Laura Sheard; and elephant-human conflict.

She is the editor in chief of the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography and is also crafting a novel called "The Motherhood Museum."

A women's health scholar, I am also a longtime women's health advocate. I've written for OBOS in the past on cervical cancer and the Pap smear, and I look forward to contributing further. As a recent breast cancer survivor, serving as a content expert in this area is deeply important to me.