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 recent book, Spaces on the Spectrum: How Autism Movements Resist Experts and Create Knowledge (2024) with 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, American Shaman. This ethnography follows shamanic and spiritual healers in the United States who draw inspiration from non-Western and/or indigenous traditions.

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