Kirsten Ostherr, Ph.D., M.P.H is is a Baker Institute Rice faculty scholar in the Science and Technology Policy program. She is also the Gladys Louise Fox Professor of English and founding Director of the new Medical Humanities Research Institute, one of the only research institutes in the world that is solely dedicated to advancing translational research on human experiences of health and illness. She is also founding Director of the Medical Humanities program (2016-present) and the Medical Futures Lab (2012-present) at Rice University in Houston, Texas. She recently served as Chair of the English Department (2020-2023). 

Ostherr is a media scholar, health researcher, and technology analyst. Her research on trust and privacy in digital health ecosystems has been widely featured in the press. Ostherr has extensive experience using human-centered design as a technique for patient collaboration in health technology development. She is currently leading a digital health humanities project called “Translational Humanities for Public Health” that identifies humanities-based pandemic responses from around the world to document and help others build upon these creative efforts. Ostherr is the author of Medical Visions: Producing the Patient through Film, Television and Imaging Technologies (Oxford, 2013) and Cinematic Prophylaxis: Globalization and Contagion in the Discourse of World Health (Duke, 2005). 

Ostherr received her PhD in American Studies from Brown University. With the support of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship, Kirsten completed a Master of Public Health degree in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the UT-Houston School of Public Health. Her MPH research focused on the use of information and communication technologies in end-of-life care.