Emily Ro
Biographic Data
| ID | 3582723 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Emily Ro |
| GIVEN NAMES | Emily |
| FAMILY NAME | Ro |
| SIGNATURE | RO E |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5165-7649 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 62 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Multiplying Meanings of Pregnancy Through Personal Accounts of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease
In cultures where reproduction is highly medicalised, pregnancy is often understood in terms of foetal development and an anticipated baby. This is connected to a wider privileging of the 'foetal subject' in these settings, which has had implications for reproductive autonomy. In this article, I disrupt dominant understandings of pregnancy by engaging with qualitative accounts of gestational trophoblastic disease. This rare condition can entail e…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Lower body extremity function is associated with health-related quality of life: A cross-sectional analysis of overweight and obese older adults with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus
Navigating Miscarriage: Social, Medical and Conceptual Perspectives
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…
Polygenic risk-stratified screening for cancer: Responsibilization in public health genomics
In this article, we examine professional discourse around the development of polygenic risk-stratified screening (PRSS) for cancer. Analyzing a range of contemporary professional literatures from Europe, North America and Australia, we explore how the drive to screen for molecular markers of cancer risk makes professionals, screening recipients and publics responsible, in different ways, for acquiring, curating and analyzing molecular data. Inves…
Online accounts of gene expression profiling in early‐stage breast cancer: Interpreting genomic testing for chemotherapy decision making
BACKGROUND: Genomic techniques are being developed within oncology and beginning to be experienced within routine cancer care. Little is known about how these tools feature in patients' experiences of treatment decision making. OBJECTIVE: This research explores the ways in which women interpret and discuss gene expression profiling for breast cancer treatment decision making, as articulated within online accounts. DESIGN: This study used a qualit…
Researching Experiences of Cancer Risk Through Online Blogs: A Reflexive Account of Working Toward Ethical Practice
By providing space to document personal narratives and hold virtual discussions, the Internet represents a fruitful resource for sociologists of health and illness. However, the use of social media content for research entails complex ethical considerations. Due to the fluidity of online material, existing ethical guidelines advise a deliberative approach. However, this has led to disparity in the use of social media resources within the social s…
Gestating bodies: Sensing Foetal Movement in First-Time Pregnancy
A large body of literature engages with personal accounts of pregnancy to illustrate the subjugation of women's embodied experience by practices of biomedicine. This article explores this issue through women's accounts of sensing initial foetal movement, drawn from qualitative interviews with 15 women resident in theUK. Participants depict this aspect of pregnant embodiment as ambiguous and indefinite, in contrast to clinical and popular represen…
Identity, community and care in online accounts of hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome
Sociological literature has explored how shifts in the point at which individuals may be designated as diseased impact upon experiences of ill health. Research has shown that experiences of being genetically "at risk" are shaped by and shape familial relations, coping strategies, and new forms of biosociality. Less is known about how living with genetic risk is negotiated in the everyday and over time, and the wider forms of identity, communities…
Provisionally pregnant: Uncertainty and Interpretive Work in Accounts of Home Pregnancy Testing
Upon their availability for purchase in the 1970s, home pregnancy testing devices were hailed as a 'revolution' for women's reproductive rights. Some authors, however, have described these technologies as further enabling the medicalisation of pregnancy and as contributing to the devaluing of women's embodied knowledge. The home pregnancy test is one of many technological devices encountered by women experiencing pregnancy in the United Kingdom t…
The sociology of cancer: A Decade of Research
Biomedicine is often presented as the driving force behind improvements in cancer care, with genomics the latest innovation poised to change the meaning, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and lived experience of cancer. Reviewing sociological analyses of a diversity of patient and practitioner experiences and accounts of cancer during the last decade (2007-17), we explore the experiences of, approaches to and understandings of cancer in this perio…
Locating the foetal subject: Uncertain entities and foetal viability in accounts of first-time pregnancy
‘I think it’s self-preservation’: Risk perception and secrecy in early pregnancy
Withholding news of a pregnancy from wider family and friends for the first 12 weeks of gestation is a familiar aspect of the contemporary experience of pregnancy in Britain. In this article, I explore this convention, drawing on interviews conducted in Scotland between 2012 and 2013, with 15 women experiencing a full-term pregnancy for the first time. For the participants in this research, the maintenance of secrecy was a response to their under…
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…
The sociology of cancer: A Decade of Research
Biomedicine is often presented as the driving force behind improvements in cancer care, with genomics the latest innovation poised to change the meaning, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and lived experience of cancer. Reviewing sociological analyses of a diversity of patient and practitioner experiences and accounts of cancer during the last decade (2007-17), we explore the experiences of, approaches to and understandings of cancer in this perio…
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…
Multiplying Meanings of Pregnancy Through Personal Accounts of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease
In cultures where reproduction is highly medicalised, pregnancy is often understood in terms of foetal development and an anticipated baby. This is connected to a wider privileging of the 'foetal subject' in these settings, which has had implications for reproductive autonomy. In this article, I disrupt dominant understandings of pregnancy by engaging with qualitative accounts of gestational trophoblastic disease. This rare condition can entail e…
Gestating bodies: Sensing Foetal Movement in First-Time Pregnancy
A large body of literature engages with personal accounts of pregnancy to illustrate the subjugation of women's embodied experience by practices of biomedicine. This article explores this issue through women's accounts of sensing initial foetal movement, drawn from qualitative interviews with 15 women resident in theUK. Participants depict this aspect of pregnant embodiment as ambiguous and indefinite, in contrast to clinical and popular represen…
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…
Researching Experiences of Cancer Risk Through Online Blogs: A Reflexive Account of Working Toward Ethical Practice
By providing space to document personal narratives and hold virtual discussions, the Internet represents a fruitful resource for sociologists of health and illness. However, the use of social media content for research entails complex ethical considerations. Due to the fluidity of online material, existing ethical guidelines advise a deliberative approach. However, this has led to disparity in the use of social media resources within the social s…
Provisionally pregnant: Uncertainty and Interpretive Work in Accounts of Home Pregnancy Testing
Upon their availability for purchase in the 1970s, home pregnancy testing devices were hailed as a 'revolution' for women's reproductive rights. Some authors, however, have described these technologies as further enabling the medicalisation of pregnancy and as contributing to the devaluing of women's embodied knowledge. The home pregnancy test is one of many technological devices encountered by women experiencing pregnancy in the United Kingdom t…
Locating the foetal subject: Uncertain entities and foetal viability in accounts of first-time pregnancy
‘I think it’s self-preservation’: Risk perception and secrecy in early pregnancy
Withholding news of a pregnancy from wider family and friends for the first 12 weeks of gestation is a familiar aspect of the contemporary experience of pregnancy in Britain. In this article, I explore this convention, drawing on interviews conducted in Scotland between 2012 and 2013, with 15 women experiencing a full-term pregnancy for the first time. For the participants in this research, the maintenance of secrecy was a response to their under…
Locating the foetal subject: Uncertain entities and foetal viability in accounts of first-time pregnancy
Identity, community and care in online accounts of hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome
Sociological literature has explored how shifts in the point at which individuals may be designated as diseased impact upon experiences of ill health. Research has shown that experiences of being genetically "at risk" are shaped by and shape familial relations, coping strategies, and new forms of biosociality. Less is known about how living with genetic risk is negotiated in the everyday and over time, and the wider forms of identity, communities…
Provisionally pregnant: Uncertainty and Interpretive Work in Accounts of Home Pregnancy Testing
Upon their availability for purchase in the 1970s, home pregnancy testing devices were hailed as a 'revolution' for women's reproductive rights. Some authors, however, have described these technologies as further enabling the medicalisation of pregnancy and as contributing to the devaluing of women's embodied knowledge. The home pregnancy test is one of many technological devices encountered by women experiencing pregnancy in the United Kingdom t…
The sociology of cancer: A Decade of Research
Biomedicine is often presented as the driving force behind improvements in cancer care, with genomics the latest innovation poised to change the meaning, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and lived experience of cancer. Reviewing sociological analyses of a diversity of patient and practitioner experiences and accounts of cancer during the last decade (2007-17), we explore the experiences of, approaches to and understandings of cancer in this perio…
Polygenic risk-stratified screening for cancer: Responsibilization in public health genomics
In this article, we examine professional discourse around the development of polygenic risk-stratified screening (PRSS) for cancer. Analyzing a range of contemporary professional literatures from Europe, North America and Australia, we explore how the drive to screen for molecular markers of cancer risk makes professionals, screening recipients and publics responsible, in different ways, for acquiring, curating and analyzing molecular data. Inves…
Online accounts of gene expression profiling in early‐stage breast cancer: Interpreting genomic testing for chemotherapy decision making
BACKGROUND: Genomic techniques are being developed within oncology and beginning to be experienced within routine cancer care. Little is known about how these tools feature in patients' experiences of treatment decision making. OBJECTIVE: This research explores the ways in which women interpret and discuss gene expression profiling for breast cancer treatment decision making, as articulated within online accounts. DESIGN: This study used a qualit…
Researching Experiences of Cancer Risk Through Online Blogs: A Reflexive Account of Working Toward Ethical Practice
By providing space to document personal narratives and hold virtual discussions, the Internet represents a fruitful resource for sociologists of health and illness. However, the use of social media content for research entails complex ethical considerations. Due to the fluidity of online material, existing ethical guidelines advise a deliberative approach. However, this has led to disparity in the use of social media resources within the social s…
Gestating bodies: Sensing Foetal Movement in First-Time Pregnancy
A large body of literature engages with personal accounts of pregnancy to illustrate the subjugation of women's embodied experience by practices of biomedicine. This article explores this issue through women's accounts of sensing initial foetal movement, drawn from qualitative interviews with 15 women resident in theUK. Participants depict this aspect of pregnant embodiment as ambiguous and indefinite, in contrast to clinical and popular represen…
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…
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…
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…
Lower body extremity function is associated with health-related quality of life: A cross-sectional analysis of overweight and obese older adults with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus
Navigating Miscarriage: Social, Medical and Conceptual Perspectives
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…
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…
Multiplying Meanings of Pregnancy Through Personal Accounts of Gestational Trophoblastic Disease
In cultures where reproduction is highly medicalised, pregnancy is often understood in terms of foetal development and an anticipated baby. This is connected to a wider privileging of the 'foetal subject' in these settings, which has had implications for reproductive autonomy. In this article, I disrupt dominant understandings of pregnancy by engaging with qualitative accounts of gestational trophoblastic disease. This rare condition can entail e…
Medicine (14 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Computer Science (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Political science (8 works) · Biology (7 works) · BRCA gene mutations in cancer (6 works) · Cancer (6 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Ethics in Clinical Research (5 works)