About
Bio
Alexandra H. Vinson, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Learning Health Sciences. Her research explores the dynamic relationship between the medical profession and American society. In one line of research, Alexandra investigates how the medical profession adapts to its changing place in American society by reshaping medical training programs. Her early work in this area sought to understand the contemporary physician-patient relationship and how medical students are trained to take up the doctor role in patient interactions. Currently, Alexandra's research investigates the adoption of quantification techniques in medical school admissions processes. In another line of research and practice, Alexandra explores how the American healthcare system can be transformed by embracing robust multi-stakeholder engagement in healthcare improvement work. At the University of Michigan, Alexandra is Co-Lead of the Bipolar Disorder Learning Community in the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program. This multi-stakeholder healthcare improvement collaborative, established in August 2022, works to build a Learning Health System to produce improvements in organizational care processes and health outcomes for individuals with a bipolar diagnosis.
Selected Publications
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2023). “Articulating the Canon: The Sociology of Medical Education from 1980-2000.” Health, DOI: 10.1177/13634593211013886.
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2022). “A ‘Social Science of Solutions’ for Healthcare.” Contexts, 21(4):8-13.
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2021). “Culture as Infrastructure in Learning Health Systems.” Learning Health Systems. DOI: 10.1002/lrh2.10267
Sargent, Adam, Alexandra H. Vinson & Reed Stevens (2021). “Sensing Defects: Collaborative Seeing in Engineering Work.” Social Studies of Science. DOI: 10.1177/0306312721991919.
Vinson, Alexandra H. & Kelly Underman (2020). “Clinical Empathy as Emotional Labor in Medical Work.” Social Science & Medicine, DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112904
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2020). “Surgical Identity Play: The Anatomy Lab Revisited.” Symbolic Interaction, DOI: 10.1002/SYMB.465.
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2019). “Short White Coats: Knowledge, Identity and Status Negotiations of First-year Medical Students.” Symbolic Interaction. DOI: 10.1002/SYMB.400.
Vinson, Alexandra H. (2016). “Constrained Collaboration: Empowerment Discourse as a Resource for Countervailing Power.” Sociology of Health & Illness, 38(8):1364-1378.
