As a clinician-sociologist hybrid, Jessica's work in the field consistently inspires her research questions; and sociology has given her a language and framework to address the large questions evoked by her therapeutic work with individuals. She is motivated to contribute to sociological insights that may inform health care practice and propel solutions to address inequalities in medicine. Her research direction includes the sociology of health and medicine, specifically focused in reproductive health, mental health, and qualitative methods.
RESEARCH PROJECTS
Current Project
University of California, San Francisco
Jessica's current research investigates how mental health care is operationalized in both psychiatric and obstetrics settings, particularly regarding the use of medications in the perinatal period. This project lies at the intersection of integrated medicine, reproductive health, and bioethics.
Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network (SIREN)
University of California, San Francisco
As a graduate student researcher on a multi-disciplinary team of physicians and public health researchers, Jessica currently contributes to research about the impact on health care providers of addressing patients' social and economic needs in clinical care.
Master's Thesis, Columbia University
Family Matters: Secrecy, Belonging, and the Heteronormative Ideal in Adoption and Sperm Donor Conception
Families have long been diverse and changing, and globalization and technological advancements are continuing to expand opportunities for family formation. Many families in the United States do not represent the traditional nuclear family ideology. However, it remains a prominent cultural fixture and the model against which we compare or construct families. Our social, medical, and legal structures of practice, such as two-parent-only birth certificates and the use of anonymously donated genetic material, reflect a normative family ideology, yet the actual structure of these families is much more complex and variable. Adopted and donor-conceived people are ideally situated to illuminate complexities of the social and biological dimensions of the family and the effects of various practices in adoption and third party reproduction. By drawing from in-depth interviews with adopted and donor-conceived adults, my research highlights the ways adopted and donor-conceived people negotiate normativity of the family in society, showing the impacts of secrecy, anonymity, or openness. This research aims to add to scholarly and clinical conversations about reproduction and the family, helping to answer challenging questions about what matters when we embrace technology, make parents, and grow families.
Current Project
University of California, San Francisco
Jessica's current research investigates how mental health care is operationalized in both psychiatric and obstetrics settings, particularly regarding the use of medications in the perinatal period. This project lies at the intersection of integrated medicine, reproductive health, and bioethics.
Social Interventions Research & Evaluation Network (SIREN)
University of California, San Francisco
As a graduate student researcher on a multi-disciplinary team of physicians and public health researchers, Jessica currently contributes to research about the impact on health care providers of addressing patients' social and economic needs in clinical care.
Master's Thesis, Columbia University
Family Matters: Secrecy, Belonging, and the Heteronormative Ideal in Adoption and Sperm Donor Conception
Families have long been diverse and changing, and globalization and technological advancements are continuing to expand opportunities for family formation. Many families in the United States do not represent the traditional nuclear family ideology. However, it remains a prominent cultural fixture and the model against which we compare or construct families. Our social, medical, and legal structures of practice, such as two-parent-only birth certificates and the use of anonymously donated genetic material, reflect a normative family ideology, yet the actual structure of these families is much more complex and variable. Adopted and donor-conceived people are ideally situated to illuminate complexities of the social and biological dimensions of the family and the effects of various practices in adoption and third party reproduction. By drawing from in-depth interviews with adopted and donor-conceived adults, my research highlights the ways adopted and donor-conceived people negotiate normativity of the family in society, showing the impacts of secrecy, anonymity, or openness. This research aims to add to scholarly and clinical conversations about reproduction and the family, helping to answer challenging questions about what matters when we embrace technology, make parents, and grow families.
jessica.harrison[at]ucsf.edu