Catherine Tan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Vassar College. She holds a PhD in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Her research interests include: medical sociology, science knowledge & technology, social movements, and qualitative methods.

Her forthcoming book, Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge (Columbia University Press), investigates two movements that take issue with mainstream understandings of Autism Spectrum Disorder. She argues that science and health movements are important spaces for the cultivation and preservation of contentious knowledge—knowledge that aims to challenge dominant experts and authority. Such spaces organize the resources necessary to transform ideas into lived realities. This study draws from over three years of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with members of the alternative biomedical and autistic rights movements.

Her current project is titled, “Healing power: Constructions of expertise and authority on the margins of medicine.” This ethnography follows healers working outside of conventional medicine, including naturopathic doctors, energy healers, and shamans in the United States. She examines how healers seek legitimacy, hone their practices, and position themselves in relation to both the medical establishment and the non-Western traditions that inspire their work.

Beyond teaching and research, she enjoys horseback riding, creating stained glass lamps, and hiking with her dog, Piscola.