Curriculum Vitae
EDUCATION
Harvard University - Ph.D. in History of Science; dissertation on "Materializing the Modern, Middle-class Body: Menstruation in the Twentieth Century United States." Advisor was Allan Brandt; readers were Katherine Park and Mario Biagioli. U.C. Berkeley Exchange Scholar supervisor was Thomas Laqueur.
Harvard University - 1994 A.B. in Social Anthropology, magna cum laude with highest honors, Phi Beta Kappa. Thesis on Routinization of Charisma in the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. 3.72 GPA.
HONORS
Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities, 2001-2002.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 1996-1999.
2001 Recipient of Shryock Medal from the American Association for the History of Medicine, for "Recruiting Allies for Reform: Henry Knowles Beecher’s 'Ethics and Clinical Research.'"
2001 Recipient of Robinson Prize from the Society for the History of Technology, for "Technology and the Production of Gendered and Classed Subjects: Tampons in the Twentieth Century United States."
Louise Green Bursley Travelling Fellowship awarded by Radcliffe College, to fund teaching and research in Latvia, summer 1992.
Ford Foundation Grant and Goelet Fund Grant for thesis research, summer 1993.
Presidential Scholar, one of 140 students chosen nationally, honored by the President for academic achievement, 1990.
PUBLICATIONS
Book manuscript, "The Modern Period: A History of Menstruation in Twentieth Century America," in progress.
Lara Freidenfelds, Entries on "Artificial Insemination," "Egg Donation," "Sonography" and "Surrogacy" for Paula Fass, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Childhood (New York: Macmillan, forthcoming).
Lara Freidenfelds, review of Londa Schiebinger, Has Feminism Changed Science? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001), Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, forthcoming.
Lara Freidenfelds, "A History of Obstetric Anesthesiology: Numb to Predecessors' Arguments?" MSJAMA, January 5, 2000 (review of Donald Caton, What a Blessing She Had Chloroform: The Medical and Social Response to the Pain of Childbirth From 1800 to the Present (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.)).
Allan Brandt and Lara Freidenfelds, "Context and Community: Assessing the Ethics of Industry-Funded Research," in Nancy M. P. King et. al., eds., Beyond Regulations: Ethics in Human Subjects Research (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), p. 128-134.
Allan Brandt and Lara Freidenfelds, "Research Ethics after World War II: The Insular Culture of Biomedicine," Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 6.3 (1996): 239-243.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Lara Freidenfelds, "Menstruation in the Twentieth Century United States: Envisioning the 'Modern' Middle Class Body," to be presented at the Organization of American Historians annual conference, March, 2004.
Lara Freidenfelds, "Talking about PMS: Crossing Boundaries of Gender, Medicine and Mentionablity," presented at the History of Science Society annual conference, November 7-10, 2002.
Lara Freidenfelds, "Constructing and Deconstructing the Medical Narrative of Menstruation in the Twentieth Century United States," presented at the American Association of the History of Medicine annual conference, April 25-28, 2002.
Lara Freidenfelds, "Using Oral History in the History of Medicine and the Body," presented at a lunch session of the American Association of the History of Medicine annual conference, April 25-28, 2002.
Lara Freidenfelds, "Technology and the Production of Gendered and Classed Subjects: Tampons in the Twentieth Century United States," presented at the Society for the History of Technology annual conference, October 4-7, 2001.
Lara Freidenfelds, "Sexuality and the Menstrual Cycle: Scientific Construction and Bodily Resistance," presented at "Beyond No Man's Land: Exploring the Limits of Gendered Bodies and Gendered Bodies," Harvard University, March 2-3 2001.
Lara Freidenfelds, “Tampons: Advertising and Bodily Practice, 1936-1950, presented at “Discipline and Deviance: Gender, Technology, Machines,” Duke University, September 28, 1998.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Lecturer and Designer of Women's Studies 102: Comparative Structures of Gender: The United States and China in the Twentieth Century, University of California at Berkeley. Spring 2001.
Teacher and Designer of a seminar, "Private Stories in Public Places: Documents for Telling the History of Experiences of Sexuality and Childbirth," in the Harvard Department of the History of Science. Fall 2000.
Teaching Fellow for “Bodies and Boundaries,” taught by Charis Thompson, in the Women’s Studies Department, Harvard University. Led two discussion sections and graded work of 35 students. Fall 2000.
Senior Thesis Advisor for a History of Science/Women's Studies undergraduate senior, focusing on the history of hysterectomy in the U.S. Fall 2000.
Junior Tutorial Advisor for a History of Science undergraduate junior. Chose readings in cooperation with the student, and advised her junior project, on the history of tampons. Spring 1998.
Teaching Assistant for a Social Medicine elective for medical students at Harvard Medical School. Spring 1996.
Course Assistant for General Education 156: The Information Age, also offered as a Kennedy School of Government Course, Harvard University. Graded papers, exams; stimulated class discussion. Fall 1993.
Curriculum Developer and English Teacher in Latvia. 2-month program for 40 students; taught 4 levels, beginner to advanced, to students ages 7 to 70. Summer 1992.
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCE
Choreographer, Dancer and Dance Teacher in the San Francisco/Bay Area. Presented choreography in Works in the Works series in Berkeley, 2000-02, in Pilot program at ODC, San Francisco, 2001, at the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley, 2002, in "Plugged In" series, Berkeley, 2002. Commissioned to choreograph for the Unitarian Universalist Church, Oakland, 2002. Performed with Nina Haft and Company, Carol Kueffer, Cathy Davalos and Sima Belmar in Oakland and San Francisco, 1999-2003. Substitute taught advanced and beginner adult modern dance classes at Shawl-Anderson Dance Studio in Berkeley, 2000-02.
Coordinator of the History and Social Studies of Medicine and the Body group (the Med Heads) at Berkeley. Organize monthly dinner meetings for an interdisciplinary group of faculty and grad students from Berkeley, UCSF, Santa Cruz, and elsewhere; solicit members to present work; pre-distribute papers electronically and in hard copies to about 110 participants. 9/98 to present.
Coordinator of the History of Medicine Working Group at Harvard. Organized two dinner meetings a month, solicited faculty and grad students to present work, pre-distributed papers to about 15 participants. 9/97 to 6/98.
Research Assistant to Prof. Allan Brandt at the Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, full time. Coordinated departmental effort to write a textbook of social medicine (solicited and edited chapters, assisted in research, organized meetings); provided research and organizational support for Brandt's research projects; supervised 3 part-time undergraduate research assistants. 9/95 to 8/96.
Assistant to the Associate Director of Major Gifts at Harvard University Development Office. Developed and maintained databases; maintained prospect files and administrative files; researched major gifts prospects; kept calendar; word-processed correspondence. 4/95 to 9/95.
Associate at Corporate Decisions, Inc., a growth strategy consulting firm. Researched various industries through literature searches and telephone interviews; performed financial and market-trend analyses; worked in teams to write customer surveys and analyze survey results through database programming and querying; presented research results internally. 9/94 to 4/95.
Producer of the Dunster House Opera Society. Coordinated and supervised 100 students in a full-scale production of “Die Fledermaus.” Received Harvard internal grants for financial support. Schoolyear 1993-94.
VOLUNTEER WORK
Musical Theater Entertainer for senior citizen daycare programs and nursing homes. Twice a month, provide an hour of singing and storytelling based on a Broadway musical, with piano accompaniment, to senior citizens in underserved communities.
Marriage Preparation Program Facilitator at the Newman Hall/Holy Spirit Parish in Berkeley. Help plan and lead two 2-day marriage preparation programs for 25 couples each year.
Alumna Interviewer for Harvard College.
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Spoken Mandarin, used in dissertation interviews with Chinese-American women.
Reading French.
Elementary spoken and written Latvian.