J. R. Latham is a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Transformative Media Technologies, working within the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education at Swinburne University of Technology. His research seeks to improve health services and health equity by exploring how patients and clinicians experience clinical encounters, with particular attention to how care environments are mediated.
Joe is a sociologist of science and technology, specialising in the history and philosophy of medicine. His Discovery Early Career Researcher Award fellowship investigates how contemporary technologies of connection are used in psychological support, specifically the rapid expansion of telehealth and the legalisation of psychedelics. By analysing together seemingly disparate modes of therapeutic connection (e.g., screen encounters and altered states of consciousness), Joe’s research examines how the minutia of these inter-personal encounters is experienced in practice – both by clinicians and patients – in order to improve health services for all.
Joe has a multidisciplinary background (public health, bioethics, cultural studies and gender studies) and his work tends to explore connections between science and technology, medical ethics and human rights. His scholarship demonstrates how social prejudice can unwittingly inform healthcare practices and advances health equity through clinical advocacy and community education. He publishes across diverse disciplines and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Feminist Theory essay prize for best article of the year and the Symonds Prize for excellence in critical inquiry from the psychoanalysis journal Studies in Gender and Sexuality.