Penn Bioethics Seminar Series (PBS): Yolonda Y. Wilson, PhD

Intersectionality, Empathy, and Assessing Patient Non-compliance

Yolonda Y. Wilson, PhD | 2019-2020 fellow at the National Humanities Center, 2019-2020 Encore Public Voices fellow 

Zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/96173440308

Description: Intersectionality has become a significant intellectual concept for those thinking about the ways that race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression. However, far from operating as a simple analysis of identity and experience, intersectionality as a conceptual framework also shines a light on existing social structures of power and exclusion that make some more vulnerable by shaping the life chances and choices of those who are marginalized by race, gender, and class. In this paper, I explore how an understanding of intersectionality can shape one’s understanding of the role of empathy in the clinical setting. 

Bios: Yolonda Wilson received her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC). She is a recent fellow at the National Humanities Center (2019-2020), and she is also a recent Encore Public Voices Fellow (2019-2020). Her research interests include bioethics, social and political philosophy, race theory, and feminist philosophy. Professor Wilson’s work centers on race and gender justice, particularly in the health care realm. Her recent article, “Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine: The Need for a Conceptual Framework,” is a consideration on applying intersectionality’s intellectual approach, how race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression in the clinical environment. Presently, Professor Wilson is at work on a monograph, Black Death: Racial Justice, Priority-Setting, and Care at the End of Life. She uses end of life care to argue that, given historic and continuing racial injustice leading to African Americans being unfairly burdened with ill health, African Americans have a special justice claim on health care.

Additionally, Professor Wilson’s public scholarship on issues of bioethics, race, and gender has appeared in The Hastings Center’s Bioethics Forum and The Conversation and has been republished in outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and The Philly Voice. Her article for The Conversation, “Why Black Women’s Experiences of #MeToo Are Different,” was re-published internationally and forms the basis for an edited volume on feminist philosophy and #MeToo. Her media appearances include outlets such as Al Jazeera English and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio. Professor Wilson has been named a 2019-2020 fellow of the National Humanities Center.

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