Sezen Demirhan is a scholar whose work lies at the intersection of medical ethics, gender studies, and the social study of health, with a particular emphasis on the lived experiences, moral complexities, and structural inequalities embedded in organ transplantation. Her research critically examines how care, responsibility, vulnerability, and embodiment are shaped by gendered expectations, sociocultural norms, and healthcare infrastructures, foregrounding the voices and experiences of those often marginalised in medical decision-making. Drawing on qualitative and ethnographic methods and informed by intersectionality theory, she explores themes such as living organ donation, xenotransplantation, biopolitics, and the emotional and ethical labour of care. Her work also engages with media representations, migration, precarisation, and the psychosocial implications of donor–recipient relationships, offering nuanced analyses of how systemic inequities manifest across medical, familial, and institutional contexts. Through contributions to interdisciplinary debates in bioethics, philosophy, sociology, and gender studies, she advances more inclusive and justice-oriented approaches to health and agency. Demirhan’s scholarship includes peer-reviewed articles, monographs, book chapters, and numerous conference presentations, as well as invited talks in international forums on transplantation ethics and gendered health disparities. She is actively involved in collaborative research networks addressing ethical, legal, and psychosocial aspects of organ transplantation and contributes to emerging discussions on gender-sensitive healthcare policy, donor autonomy, long-term outcomes for women donors, and the broader sociopolitical forces shaping medical decision-making.
Profile: Orcid