Choon Key Chekar
Biographic Data
| ID | 307346 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Choon Key Chekar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Choon Key |
| FAMILY NAME | Chekar |
| SIGNATURE | CHEKAR C K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lancaster University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1814-0744 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 47 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Medical training pathways and underdoctored areas: A Qualitative Study of Doctors Working in Areas That Struggle to Recruit and Retain
Some areas struggle more than others to recruit and retain doctors to provide healthcare services. Often, these areas are rural, coastal, remote, deprived or a combination of all these factors, compounding difficulties in access to healthcare; we refer to these areas as 'underdoctored'. This paper aims to describe experiences of working in underdoctored areas, with a focus on exploring why doctors work in these places to highlight what might enab…
Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques
Social scientists have argued that a treatment imperative shapes experiences of biomedicine. This is evident within oncology, where discourses of hope are tempered by persistent fears surrounding cancer. It is within this context that genomic decision-making tools are entering routine care. These may indicate that a treatment is not appropriate for a particular disease profile. We draw on qualitative interviews and observations centred on gene ex…
Covid-19 Exceptionalism: Explaining South Korean Responses
COVID-19 has presented challenges across the globe that led to a number of shared lessons to be learnt. Yet, we are inundated with comparative accounts that characterize national pandemic responses as inherent and unique to certain nation states, which, we argue, led to COVID-exceptionalism. This article challenges “cultural” explanations of South Korea’s “successful” responses to COVID-19 crisis. The popular narrative has been that Korea’s clust…
Index
Molecular profiling for advanced gynaecological cancer: Prolonging foreshortened futures
Chapter 3 explores another technique that offers personalised predictions of responses to treatments for cancer based on molecular profiling, this time for later stage gynaecological cancer patients seeking to prolong foreshortened futures in a non-curative context. Gynaecological cancers encompass cancer of the womb, ovaries, cervix, vagina and vulva, and mainly, but not exclusively, affect post-menopausal women. Awareness of these cancers is lo…
Going private: Digital culture and personalised medicine
While many cancer patients experience molecular diagnostics and targeted therapies as part of standard treatment or through clinical trials provided free-of-charge through the NHS, others turn to private providers to craft their own care pathways, utilising private health insurance, savings, taking out loans or raising money via crowdfunding online. In Chapter 6, we explore how practitioners, patients and their relatives seek to tailor their care…
Genomics at scale: Participation to build the bioeconomy
Chapter 5 is about large-scale national studies, recruiting patients with a range of cancers to collect extensive molecular information about cancer and ultimately inform routine patient care via precision medicine. We focus on Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project. After discussing the rise of these mass-participation initiatives and their strong national imaginaries of economic development and cutting-edge healthcare, we explore how practi…
Genomic techniques in standard care: Gene-expression profiling in early-stage breast cancer
Chapter 2 explores the promise of prediction and prevention of recurrence in personalised medicine for some kinds of breast cancer through the case of a genomic technique already widely adopted within the NHS across the UK: gene-expression profiling. We consider a genomic test, Oncotype DX, which seeks to identify, among early breast cancer patients, those who would or would not benefit from chemotherapy to prevent future recurrence. The aim here…
Optimising personalisation: Adaptive trials for intractable cancers
In Chapter 4 we explore another route by which advanced cancer patients are offered the promise of tailored treatments that may prolong their lives, focusing on an adaptive multi-centre trial for lung cancer that aims to optimise treatments through a process of ongoing adaptation. Lung cancer has a lower public profile than some other cancers and it remains highly stigmatised because of its associations with smoking and higher prevalence among di…
Conclusion: Future-crafting
In today's world, we are offered a constantly expanding number of technologies to integrate into our lives. We now utilise a range of interconnected technologies at work, at home and at leisure. The realm of sport is no exception, where new technologies or enhancements are available to athletes, coaches, scientists, umpires, governing bodies and broadcasters. However, this book argues that in a world where time has become a precious commodity and…
At the limits of participation
Chapter 7 considers non-participation and exclusions as well as reservation, consternation and rejections around genomic medicine in our research and in the public sphere more generally. We investigate the particular social and cultural contexts in which disengagement and resistance are generated. Exploring negative views and experiences or simply a lack of response to genomic medicine, we consider when these kinds of personalised medicine are ‘n…
Personalising cancer treatment and diagnosis through genomic medicine
Chapter 1 sets the scene for the case studies in the book, drawing on STS and related literatures to trace the development of molecular understandings of cancer, tests and treatments and their place in the cancer clinic. The chapter covers the evolution of clinical trials and biobank research, including the rise of adaptive, basket and umbrella trials. We also explore the development of new molecular taxonomies of cancer and the implications of t…
Accessing targeted therapies for cancer: Self and collective advocacy alongside and beyond mainstream cancer charities
As precision oncology has evolved, patients and their families have become more involved in efforts to access these treatments via fundraising and campaigning that take place outside of the larger cancer charities. In this paper, we explore the solidarities, networks, and emotional work of the UK-based access advocates, drawing on the stories of nine advocates, which included interviews and content analyses of their social media posts and coverag…
Personalised cancer medicine: Future crafting in the genomic era
What does it mean to personalise cancer medicine? Personalised cancer medicine explores this question by foregrounding the experiences of patients, carers and practitioners in the UK. Drawing on an ethnographic study of cancer research and care, we trace patients', carers' and practitioners' efforts to access and interpret novel genomic tests, information and treatments as they craft personal and collective futures. Exploring a series of case stu…
Diagnostic layering: Patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era
Social scientific work has considered the promise of genomic medicine to transform healthcare by personalising treatment. However, little qualitative research attends to already well-established molecular techniques in routine care. In this article we consider women's experiences of routine breast cancer diagnosis in the UK NHS. We attend to patient accounts of the techniques used to subtype breast cancer and guide individual treatment. We introd…
Accomplishing an adaptive clinical trial for cancer: Valuation practices and care work across the laboratory and the clinic
Genomic research and the cancer clinic: Uncertainty and expectations in professional accounts
This paper explores clinicians' and scientists' accounts of genomic research in cancer care and the complexities and challenges involved with delivering this work. Contributing to the sociology of (low) expectations, we draw on sociological studies of uncertainty in medicine to explore their accounts of working with uncertainty as part of the management of patient and institutional expectations. We consider their appeals to the importance of mode…
Localising the ‘ethical’ in stem cell science: Case studies from Asia, North America and Europe
Comparing national home-keeping and the regulation of translational stem cell applications: An international perspective
A very large grey area exists between translational stem cell research and applications that comply with the ideals of randomised control trials and good laboratory and clinical practice and what is often referred to as snake-oil trade. We identify a discrepancy between international research and ethics regulation and the ways in which regulatory instruments in the stem cell field are developed in practice. We examine this discrepancy using the n…
Constituting Public Support for the National Stem Cell Project: Kungmin as a Rhetorical Flag in S outh K orean Media
The global stem cell scandal widely known as the ‘Hwang scandal’ was a reminder of the somewhat taken‐for‐granted fact that the S outh K orean public is often referenced and addressed as kungmin in media discourse. Kungmin , which means ‘South K orean nationals’, has considerable purchase in everyday life in S outh K orea as a constant reminder of nationhood. Using Michael Billig's concept of banal nationalism as the key theoretical linchpin of a…
Bioethics in the age of new media
Bioethics in the age of new media, by Joanna Zylinska, Cambridge, MA and London, MIT Press, 2009, 240 pp., £22.95 (hardback), ISBN-10: 0-262-24056-4, ISBN-13: 978-0-262-24056-7 Joanna Zylinska's Bi
Science, patriotism and discourses of nation and culture: Reflections on the South Korean stem cell breakthroughs and scandals
Bio-technological research is refracted through, and has implications for, national and international economies, status, image and networks. Human embryo stem cell research, for example, brings potentially very high financial and reputational rewards, but also can carry great risks. This was dramatically illustrated in the South Korean debacle. Breakthroughs announced in 2004 and 2005 placed South Korea at the cutting edge of this biotechnology. …
Personalised cancer medicine: Future crafting in the genomic era
What does it mean to personalise cancer medicine? Personalised cancer medicine explores this question by foregrounding the experiences of patients, carers and practitioners in the UK. Drawing on an ethnographic study of cancer research and care, we trace patients', carers' and practitioners' efforts to access and interpret novel genomic tests, information and treatments as they craft personal and collective futures. Exploring a series of case stu…
Comparing national home-keeping and the regulation of translational stem cell applications: An international perspective
A very large grey area exists between translational stem cell research and applications that comply with the ideals of randomised control trials and good laboratory and clinical practice and what is often referred to as snake-oil trade. We identify a discrepancy between international research and ethics regulation and the ways in which regulatory instruments in the stem cell field are developed in practice. We examine this discrepancy using the n…
Diagnostic layering: Patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era
Social scientific work has considered the promise of genomic medicine to transform healthcare by personalising treatment. However, little qualitative research attends to already well-established molecular techniques in routine care. In this article we consider women's experiences of routine breast cancer diagnosis in the UK NHS. We attend to patient accounts of the techniques used to subtype breast cancer and guide individual treatment. We introd…
Accomplishing an adaptive clinical trial for cancer: Valuation practices and care work across the laboratory and the clinic
Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques
Social scientists have argued that a treatment imperative shapes experiences of biomedicine. This is evident within oncology, where discourses of hope are tempered by persistent fears surrounding cancer. It is within this context that genomic decision-making tools are entering routine care. These may indicate that a treatment is not appropriate for a particular disease profile. We draw on qualitative interviews and observations centred on gene ex…
Science, patriotism and discourses of nation and culture: Reflections on the South Korean stem cell breakthroughs and scandals
Bio-technological research is refracted through, and has implications for, national and international economies, status, image and networks. Human embryo stem cell research, for example, brings potentially very high financial and reputational rewards, but also can carry great risks. This was dramatically illustrated in the South Korean debacle. Breakthroughs announced in 2004 and 2005 placed South Korea at the cutting edge of this biotechnology. …
Bioethics in the age of new media
Bioethics in the age of new media, by Joanna Zylinska, Cambridge, MA and London, MIT Press, 2009, 240 pp., £22.95 (hardback), ISBN-10: 0-262-24056-4, ISBN-13: 978-0-262-24056-7 Joanna Zylinska's Bi
Constituting Public Support for the National Stem Cell Project: Kungmin as a Rhetorical Flag in S outh K orean Media
The global stem cell scandal widely known as the ‘Hwang scandal’ was a reminder of the somewhat taken‐for‐granted fact that the S outh K orean public is often referenced and addressed as kungmin in media discourse. Kungmin , which means ‘South K orean nationals’, has considerable purchase in everyday life in S outh K orea as a constant reminder of nationhood. Using Michael Billig's concept of banal nationalism as the key theoretical linchpin of a…
Comparing national home-keeping and the regulation of translational stem cell applications: An international perspective
A very large grey area exists between translational stem cell research and applications that comply with the ideals of randomised control trials and good laboratory and clinical practice and what is often referred to as snake-oil trade. We identify a discrepancy between international research and ethics regulation and the ways in which regulatory instruments in the stem cell field are developed in practice. We examine this discrepancy using the n…
Localising the ‘ethical’ in stem cell science: Case studies from Asia, North America and Europe
Genomic research and the cancer clinic: Uncertainty and expectations in professional accounts
This paper explores clinicians' and scientists' accounts of genomic research in cancer care and the complexities and challenges involved with delivering this work. Contributing to the sociology of (low) expectations, we draw on sociological studies of uncertainty in medicine to explore their accounts of working with uncertainty as part of the management of patient and institutional expectations. We consider their appeals to the importance of mode…
Accomplishing an adaptive clinical trial for cancer: Valuation practices and care work across the laboratory and the clinic
Index
Molecular profiling for advanced gynaecological cancer: Prolonging foreshortened futures
Chapter 3 explores another technique that offers personalised predictions of responses to treatments for cancer based on molecular profiling, this time for later stage gynaecological cancer patients seeking to prolong foreshortened futures in a non-curative context. Gynaecological cancers encompass cancer of the womb, ovaries, cervix, vagina and vulva, and mainly, but not exclusively, affect post-menopausal women. Awareness of these cancers is lo…
Going private: Digital culture and personalised medicine
While many cancer patients experience molecular diagnostics and targeted therapies as part of standard treatment or through clinical trials provided free-of-charge through the NHS, others turn to private providers to craft their own care pathways, utilising private health insurance, savings, taking out loans or raising money via crowdfunding online. In Chapter 6, we explore how practitioners, patients and their relatives seek to tailor their care…
Genomics at scale: Participation to build the bioeconomy
Chapter 5 is about large-scale national studies, recruiting patients with a range of cancers to collect extensive molecular information about cancer and ultimately inform routine patient care via precision medicine. We focus on Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project. After discussing the rise of these mass-participation initiatives and their strong national imaginaries of economic development and cutting-edge healthcare, we explore how practi…
Genomic techniques in standard care: Gene-expression profiling in early-stage breast cancer
Chapter 2 explores the promise of prediction and prevention of recurrence in personalised medicine for some kinds of breast cancer through the case of a genomic technique already widely adopted within the NHS across the UK: gene-expression profiling. We consider a genomic test, Oncotype DX, which seeks to identify, among early breast cancer patients, those who would or would not benefit from chemotherapy to prevent future recurrence. The aim here…
Optimising personalisation: Adaptive trials for intractable cancers
In Chapter 4 we explore another route by which advanced cancer patients are offered the promise of tailored treatments that may prolong their lives, focusing on an adaptive multi-centre trial for lung cancer that aims to optimise treatments through a process of ongoing adaptation. Lung cancer has a lower public profile than some other cancers and it remains highly stigmatised because of its associations with smoking and higher prevalence among di…
Conclusion: Future-crafting
In today's world, we are offered a constantly expanding number of technologies to integrate into our lives. We now utilise a range of interconnected technologies at work, at home and at leisure. The realm of sport is no exception, where new technologies or enhancements are available to athletes, coaches, scientists, umpires, governing bodies and broadcasters. However, this book argues that in a world where time has become a precious commodity and…
At the limits of participation
Chapter 7 considers non-participation and exclusions as well as reservation, consternation and rejections around genomic medicine in our research and in the public sphere more generally. We investigate the particular social and cultural contexts in which disengagement and resistance are generated. Exploring negative views and experiences or simply a lack of response to genomic medicine, we consider when these kinds of personalised medicine are ‘n…
Personalising cancer treatment and diagnosis through genomic medicine
Chapter 1 sets the scene for the case studies in the book, drawing on STS and related literatures to trace the development of molecular understandings of cancer, tests and treatments and their place in the cancer clinic. The chapter covers the evolution of clinical trials and biobank research, including the rise of adaptive, basket and umbrella trials. We also explore the development of new molecular taxonomies of cancer and the implications of t…
Accessing targeted therapies for cancer: Self and collective advocacy alongside and beyond mainstream cancer charities
As precision oncology has evolved, patients and their families have become more involved in efforts to access these treatments via fundraising and campaigning that take place outside of the larger cancer charities. In this paper, we explore the solidarities, networks, and emotional work of the UK-based access advocates, drawing on the stories of nine advocates, which included interviews and content analyses of their social media posts and coverag…
Personalised cancer medicine: Future crafting in the genomic era
What does it mean to personalise cancer medicine? Personalised cancer medicine explores this question by foregrounding the experiences of patients, carers and practitioners in the UK. Drawing on an ethnographic study of cancer research and care, we trace patients', carers' and practitioners' efforts to access and interpret novel genomic tests, information and treatments as they craft personal and collective futures. Exploring a series of case stu…
Diagnostic layering: Patient accounts of breast cancer classification in the molecular era
Social scientific work has considered the promise of genomic medicine to transform healthcare by personalising treatment. However, little qualitative research attends to already well-established molecular techniques in routine care. In this article we consider women's experiences of routine breast cancer diagnosis in the UK NHS. We attend to patient accounts of the techniques used to subtype breast cancer and guide individual treatment. We introd…
Covid-19 Exceptionalism: Explaining South Korean Responses
COVID-19 has presented challenges across the globe that led to a number of shared lessons to be learnt. Yet, we are inundated with comparative accounts that characterize national pandemic responses as inherent and unique to certain nation states, which, we argue, led to COVID-exceptionalism. This article challenges “cultural” explanations of South Korea’s “successful” responses to COVID-19 crisis. The popular narrative has been that Korea’s clust…
Unsettling the treatment imperative? Chemotherapy decision-making in the wake of genomic techniques
Social scientists have argued that a treatment imperative shapes experiences of biomedicine. This is evident within oncology, where discourses of hope are tempered by persistent fears surrounding cancer. It is within this context that genomic decision-making tools are entering routine care. These may indicate that a treatment is not appropriate for a particular disease profile. We draw on qualitative interviews and observations centred on gene ex…
Medical training pathways and underdoctored areas: A Qualitative Study of Doctors Working in Areas That Struggle to Recruit and Retain
Some areas struggle more than others to recruit and retain doctors to provide healthcare services. Often, these areas are rural, coastal, remote, deprived or a combination of all these factors, compounding difficulties in access to healthcare; we refer to these areas as 'underdoctored'. This paper aims to describe experiences of working in underdoctored areas, with a focus on exploring why doctors work in these places to highlight what might enab…
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Biomedical Ethics and Regulation (11 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Law (9 works) · Public relations (9 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Biology (5 works) · Business (5 works)