Wendy Kline

PhD University of California, Davis, 1998

History of Medicine in the U.S., History of Women's Health, Reproduction, Eugenics, History of Childbirth

Wendy Kline, Ph.D., Dema G. Seelye Chair in the History of Medicine at Purdue University, is internationally recognized for her scholarship in the history of medicine, history of women's health and the history of childbirth. She is the creator and Director of Purdue's Medical Humanities certificate program. 

She is the author of four major books focusing on sexuality and reproduction: Exposed: The Hidden History of the Pelvic Exam (Polity Press, forthcoming, 2024); Coming Home: How Midwives Changed Birth (Oxford University Press, 2019); Bodies of Knowledge: Sexuality, Reproduction, and Women’s Health in the Second Wave (U. of Chicago Press 2010); and Building a Better Race: Gender, Sexuality, and Eugenics from the Turn of the Century to the Baby Boom (U. of California Press, 2001). 

She has appeared in the Netflix documentary, Sex, Explained, as well as the PBS documentary, The Eugenics Crusade, and will appear in the Showtime documentary, Pharma, in 2023. Her research has been funded by major fellowships, including a Fulbright Distinguished Scholar fellowship, a British Academy Fellowship, and a Huntington Fellowship. Kline is also a professional violinist, currently principal second with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Kline is currently accepting graduate students interested in studying the history of women's health and/or history of psychiatry.

Publications