Alongside the research team of Dr. Maya Sabatello, she will be pursuing her postdoctoral comparative research project, titled “Un/Diagnosed”: Medical diagnosis is a key juncture in people’s interaction with healthcare systems. In the project, diagnosis is conceptualized not as a single moment in the clinic, but as a social, political, medical and economic process that encompasses people’s lifeworlds. The project will employ longitudinal narrative interviews and digital mapping to follow patients’ pathways of diagnosis within their respective healthcare context. For comparative policy analysis, the project will juxtapose the health care and welfare structures of the United States and Austria. During her stay at Columbia University Medical, Magdalena Eitenberger will pursue the US-based part of her research, focusing on the case study of genetic testing as expanding the domain of diagnosis.
