Abigail Higgins

Research Interests: History of medicine; feminist science studies; health and the environment.

Abigail Higgins (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the History of Science Department. She is interested in the history of medicine and the environment through the 20th and 21st centuries as well as sex and gender in medicine and life sciences research.

Abigail graduated magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University with an A.B. in History and Science and a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Her senior thesis project investigated the factors that enabled the widespread success of public venues for sex education by following the production, exhibition, and circulation of Robert Latou Dickinson’s Birth Series anatomical sculptures at the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair and beyond. For this project, she was awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for outstanding scholarly work.

Prior to joining the Ph.D. program, Abigail worked as a healthcare and life sciences business strategy consultant, engaging with biopharma, biotechnology, and diagnostics companies.

Publications:

Maldonado, Ben, Jamie Marsella, Abigail Higgins, and Sarah S. Richardson.  “Malicious Midwives, Fruitful Vines, and Bearded Women — Sex, Gender, and Medical Expertise in the Journal." New England Journal of Medicine/The New England Journal of Medicine 390, no. 21 (2024): 1941-47. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp2404784.

Previous Degrees:

A.B., History of Science, Harvard University