RU Logo 2024
Department of Sociology
  • SAS Events
  • SAS News
  • rutgers.edu
  • SAS
  • Search People
  • Search
Department of Sociology | School of Arts and Sciences

RU Logo 2024
Department of Sociology

Search

    • Department
    • Department History
    • Undergraduate
    • Graduate
    • Faculty
    • Staff/Administration
    • Doctoral Students
    • PhDs on the Market
    • Visiting Scholars
    • Alumni
    • News
    • Events
    • Past Events
    • Newsletters
    • Submit News
    • Areas of Strength
    • Faculty Bookshelf
    • Faculty Article Shelf
    • Methods
    • In the Public Eye
    • ASA Code of Ethics
    • Centers, Bureaus, and Institutes
    • Journals
    • Professional Associations
    • Community and Equity Resources
    • Job Opportunties
  • Support
  • Contact Us

People

  • Faculty
    • Core Department Faculty
    • Affiliated Graduate Program Faculty
    • Adjunct Faculty
    • Emeritus Faculty
    • In Memoriam
  • Staff/Administration
  • Doctoral Students
  • PhDs on the Market
  • Visiting Scholars
  • Alumni
    • Initial Placements
    • All Alumni

Core Department Faculty Member

  • Joanna Kempner
  • Joanna Kempner
  • Associate Professor
  • Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, 2004
  • Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Office: Davison Hall, 134
  • Personal Website
  • Twitter: joannakempner
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • Google Scholar
  • Joanna Kempner, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Rutgers University, is an award-winning sociologist of science, medicine, and inequality, and the author of Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Modern Medicine (Hachette Books 2024) and Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health (Chicago 2014). Kempner’s research gives voice to those without power and asks challenging questions about how medicine talks about, understands, and makes policies for those it serves. 

    Kempner has held visiting positions and fellowships at Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Michigan, and has served on multiple editorial boards and in leadership positions across academia and within headache advocacy. Her research appears in top journals across multiple disciplines, including Science, PLoS Medicine, Neurology, and Social Science & Medicine and is often featured in the media. You can learn more about Joanna Kempner at www.joannakempner.com.

  • In the Public Eye:
    • The Promise and Future of Psychedelics, The Pulse. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1196552850/promise-of-psychedelics
    • Host Maiken Scott interviews Joanna Kempner about Clusterbusters, a patient group that developed a psychedelic protocol to treat cluster headache. “How people with cluster headache become unexpected pioneers,” The Microdose, June 10, 2024. https://substack.com/home/post/p-145276454
    • Michael Pollan’s substack, The Microdose, ran an excerpt of Psychedelic Outlaws, which explains the rise of psychedelic medicine through the lens of an unexpected group of pioneers: people desperate to find a treatment for cluster headache, one of the most excruciating diseases in the world.
    • A documentary film entitled Out of My Head that explores migraine, featuring Kempner’s research alongside an intimate portrayal of her life with migraine.
  • Faculty Article(s):
  • Collective self-experimentation in patient-led research: How online health communities foster innovation
  • Standards Without Labs: Drug Development in the Psychedelic Underground.
  • Faculty Bookshelf:
  • Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health
  • Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Modern Medicine
  • Program Areas:
  • Culture and Cognition
  • Gender, Sexuality and Embodiment
  • Health, Population, and Biomedicine
  • What’s Real About Race? Untangling Science, Genetics, and Society Psychedelic Outlaws: The Movement Revolutionizing Modern Medicine

    Hachette Books , 2024

    Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health

    Chicago , 2014

White RU Logo

  • SAS Events
  • SAS News
  • rutgers.edu
  • SAS
  • Search People
  • Search

Connect with Rutgers

  • Rutgers New Brunswick
  • Rutgers Today
  • myRutgers
  • Academic Calendar
  • Rutgers Schedule of Classes
  • One Stop Student Service Center
  • getINVOLVED
  • Plan a Visit

Explore SAS

  • Majors and Minors
  • Departments and Programs
  • Research Centers and Institutes
  • SAS Offices
  • Support SAS

Notices

  • University Operating Status

  • Privacy

Quick Links

Rutgers Connect

Online Schedule of Classes

Submit an SAS IT workorder

Submit News

Social Science Data Archives

General Statistical Information and Reference

Contact Us

Department of Sociology
Davison Hall
26 Nichol Avenue,
New Brunswick, NJ 08901


P  848-932-4029

Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter
  • Home
  • IT Help
  • Website Feedback
  • Site Map
  • Search
  • Login

Rutgers is an equal access/equal opportunity institution. Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to direct suggestions, comments, or complaints concerning any
accessibility issues with Rutgers websites to accessibility@rutgers.edu or complete the Report Accessibility Barrier / Provide Feedback form.

Copyright ©, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. All rights reserved. Contact webmaster