Heather McKee Hurwitz, Ph.D., is a Project Staff Researcher (faculty) in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center. She is developing a research program and grants portfolio focused on cancer disparities especially racial and sexuality disparities, community outreach and the social determinants of health. She is researching ways to improve and increase cancer screenings. She will continue to research improving patient experiences and relationship-centered care. Also, she will contribute intersectional and feminist analyses of patients’ experiences. And more!
She was a Full-Time Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH from 2018-2021. She is was a Core Research and Teaching Faculty member in the Women's and Gender Studies interdisciplinary program. In addition, she was a Visiting Researcher with the Cleveland Clinic's Office of Patient Experience from 2019-2021. At the Cleveland Clinic, she provided social science research assistance for several qualitative and quantitative projects aimed at improving patient care. In Fall 2019, she was a lecturer for second year medical students' health humanities class entitled, The Art and Practice of Medicine, at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
At CWRU, she teaches Introduction to Sociology, Social Movements, Work and Family, Logic of Inquiry (research design and methods), and a course for the writing intensive SAGES program entitled Women and Leadership. Her Intro class provides a broad survey of the field of sociology and assists students who are preparing for the MCAT and careers in medical fields. For the 2019-2020 academic year, she received a Nord grant from the CWRU's University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE). She is using the grant to develop collaborative teaching materials for medical school hopefuls, in particular strategies to assist students and instructors to prepare for the social and behavioral portions of the MCAT and careers in medical fields. Also for the 2019-2020 academic year, she is a faculty fellow to CWRU's Kelvin Smith Library Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship. With a grant from the Freedman Center, she is developing a digital Occupy Archive and research and teaching guides for use with the archive.
For nearly 20 years, Heather has participated in and studied a variety of social movements in the United States and Global South including feminist, anti-war, student, environmental, and Occupy movements. She analyzes contemporary urban protests and social movements using a feminist and intersectional lens. Her current research focuses on the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Heather has studied activism to support Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, and feminism within other not-explicitly-feminist social movements such as feminism within Black Lives Matter.
From 2015-2018 Heather completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Barnard College, Columbia University. At Barnard she taught courses in the Department of Sociology and the Athena Center for Leadership Studies including Global Activism, Women and Leadership, and Gender and Organizations.
In 2015, Heather completed the Ph.D. at University of California Santa Barbara. Verta Taylor chaired her dissertation committee. At UC Santa Barbara, she was an instructor and teaching assistant for more than fifteen courses in Sociology and Feminist Studies including courses on gender, work, social change, the Internet and social media, inequalities, globalization, and qualitative and quantitative methods.
Currently, Heather lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
She was a Full-Time Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, OH from 2018-2021. She is was a Core Research and Teaching Faculty member in the Women's and Gender Studies interdisciplinary program. In addition, she was a Visiting Researcher with the Cleveland Clinic's Office of Patient Experience from 2019-2021. At the Cleveland Clinic, she provided social science research assistance for several qualitative and quantitative projects aimed at improving patient care. In Fall 2019, she was a lecturer for second year medical students' health humanities class entitled, The Art and Practice of Medicine, at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine.
At CWRU, she teaches Introduction to Sociology, Social Movements, Work and Family, Logic of Inquiry (research design and methods), and a course for the writing intensive SAGES program entitled Women and Leadership. Her Intro class provides a broad survey of the field of sociology and assists students who are preparing for the MCAT and careers in medical fields. For the 2019-2020 academic year, she received a Nord grant from the CWRU's University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education (UCITE). She is using the grant to develop collaborative teaching materials for medical school hopefuls, in particular strategies to assist students and instructors to prepare for the social and behavioral portions of the MCAT and careers in medical fields. Also for the 2019-2020 academic year, she is a faculty fellow to CWRU's Kelvin Smith Library Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship. With a grant from the Freedman Center, she is developing a digital Occupy Archive and research and teaching guides for use with the archive.
For nearly 20 years, Heather has participated in and studied a variety of social movements in the United States and Global South including feminist, anti-war, student, environmental, and Occupy movements. She analyzes contemporary urban protests and social movements using a feminist and intersectional lens. Her current research focuses on the Occupy Wall Street Movement in New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area. Heather has studied activism to support Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, and feminism within other not-explicitly-feminist social movements such as feminism within Black Lives Matter.
From 2015-2018 Heather completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Barnard College, Columbia University. At Barnard she taught courses in the Department of Sociology and the Athena Center for Leadership Studies including Global Activism, Women and Leadership, and Gender and Organizations.
In 2015, Heather completed the Ph.D. at University of California Santa Barbara. Verta Taylor chaired her dissertation committee. At UC Santa Barbara, she was an instructor and teaching assistant for more than fifteen courses in Sociology and Feminist Studies including courses on gender, work, social change, the Internet and social media, inequalities, globalization, and qualitative and quantitative methods.
Currently, Heather lives in Cleveland, Ohio.