Xinyan “Tiu” Wu is a medical sociologist. He/They holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Connecticut and an MA in Sociology from The New School for Social Research. Tiu’s research interests include science studies, sociology of health, and sociology of knowledge.
Tiu’s research aims to unravel the diverse meanings and forms of expertise in contemporary social life. Specifically, he/they studies professional experts, such as physicians, epidemiologists, and environmental professionals, their interactions with other stakeholders, as well as environments and infrastructures that facilitate their practices. To date, he/they has published two peer-reviewed journal articles, both of which stem from his/their dissertation research on the opioid crisis.
As a Postdoctoral Fellow at UTMB, Tiu is conducting ethnographic fieldwork in and around environmental cleanup sites in Texas. He/they works with Dr. Smith and Dr. Molldrem to examine how scientists and other experts do their work in understanding contamination and environmental health, as well as how scientific knowledge is distributed, communicated, and translated. Topics currently explored include public trust, epistemic injustice, and infrastructural exclusion.