Judy Z. Segal

she/her/hers
Professor Emerita
Education

BA, McGill University | MA, PhD, University of British Columbia


About

Judy Z. Segal (she/her) specializes in Rhetoric(s) of Health and Medicine—and Science and Technology Studies more generally. Her work has taken up rhetorical elements in professional, institutional, and public discourse on pain, drugs, breast cancer, sex and desire, mental health, and aging. Her essays appear in rhetoric journals, interdisciplinary health and STS journals, and medical journals—and in essay collections across disciplines. She is author of Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine (2005), an establishing book for the field. Professor Segal has been a member of the President’s International Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Distinguished Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and a recipient of the Killam Teaching Prize. She is a member of the Advisory Panel on Medicine and Society for the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Publications

Selected Publications

  • “Afterword.” In Christine Garlough, Stuart J. Murray, and Kelly Happe, eds. Rhetorics of Care: Crisis, Communication, and Community. Leuven: Peeters Publishers (In press, 2026).
  • Alan W. Richardson and Judy Z. Segal. “Don’t Ask ‘Why?’” A Novel Approach to Vaccine Persuasion.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 196, 42 (9 December 2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.240428
  • “The Rhetoric of Depression: Listening to Listening to Prozac in a Pandemic.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine 6, 1 (2023): 9-35.
  • “The Rhetoric and Politics of American Ageism: Notes from a Pandemic.” In Martin Halliwell and Sophie A. Jones, eds., The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 476-491.
  • “Foreword.” In Lisa Melonçon et al, eds. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine As/Is. The Ohio State University Press, 2020. vii-xiii.
  • “Ageism and Rhetoric.” In Alan Bleakley, ed.  The Routledge Handbook of Medical Humanities. Routledge, 2020. 163-175.
  • “The Empowered Patient on a Historical-Rhetorical Model: 19th-Century Patent-Medicine Ads and the 21st-Century Health Subject.” health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness, and Medicine 24,5 (2020) 572-588.
  • “Sex, Drugs, and Rhetoric: The Case of Flibanserin for ‘Female Sexual Dysfunction.’” Social Studies of Science48, 4 (2018): 459-482.
  • “The Rhetoric of Female Sexual Dysfunction: Faux Feminism and the FDA. Canadian Medical Association Journal187, 12 (8 September 2015): 915-916.
  • “The View from Here and There: Objectivity and the Rhetoric of Breast Cancer.” In Flavia Padovani, Jonathan Tsou, and Alan Richardson, eds., Objectivity in Science: Approaches to Historical Epistemology. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. 211-226.
  • “Suffering and the Rhetoric of Care.” In Michael Hyde and James Herrick, eds., After the Genome: The Language of Our Biotechnological Future. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013. 219-234.
  • Blake Scott, Judy Z. Segal, and Lisa Keränen. “Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: Inventional Possibilities for Scholarship and Engaged Practice.” Poroi: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetoric Analysis and Invention. 9,1 (2013).
  • Breast Cancer and Its Narration: An Accidental Study.” Literature and Medicine30, 2 (2012): 292-318.
  • “The Sexualization of the Medical. Journal of Sex Research 49, 4 (2012): 269-278.
  • “What, in Addition to Drugs, Do Pharmaceutical Ads Sell?”: The Rhetoric of Pleasure in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Pharmaceuticals.” In Deborah Dysart-Gale and Joan Leach, eds. Rhetorical Questions of Health and Medicine. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2011. 9-32.
  • Miriam Solomon, Wm Young, Judy Segal and Stephanie Geiger. “Medication Adaptation Headache.” Cephalalgia31, 5 (2011): 515-517.

Judy Z. Segal

she/her/hers
Professor Emerita
Education

BA, McGill University | MA, PhD, University of British Columbia


About

Judy Z. Segal (she/her) specializes in Rhetoric(s) of Health and Medicine—and Science and Technology Studies more generally. Her work has taken up rhetorical elements in professional, institutional, and public discourse on pain, drugs, breast cancer, sex and desire, mental health, and aging. Her essays appear in rhetoric journals, interdisciplinary health and STS journals, and medical journals—and in essay collections across disciplines. She is author of Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine (2005), an establishing book for the field. Professor Segal has been a member of the President’s International Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Distinguished Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and a recipient of the Killam Teaching Prize. She is a member of the Advisory Panel on Medicine and Society for the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Publications

Selected Publications

  • “Afterword.” In Christine Garlough, Stuart J. Murray, and Kelly Happe, eds. Rhetorics of Care: Crisis, Communication, and Community. Leuven: Peeters Publishers (In press, 2026).
  • Alan W. Richardson and Judy Z. Segal. “Don’t Ask ‘Why?’” A Novel Approach to Vaccine Persuasion.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 196, 42 (9 December 2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.240428
  • “The Rhetoric of Depression: Listening to Listening to Prozac in a Pandemic.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine 6, 1 (2023): 9-35.
  • “The Rhetoric and Politics of American Ageism: Notes from a Pandemic.” In Martin Halliwell and Sophie A. Jones, eds., The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 476-491.
  • “Foreword.” In Lisa Melonçon et al, eds. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine As/Is. The Ohio State University Press, 2020. vii-xiii.
  • “Ageism and Rhetoric.” In Alan Bleakley, ed.  The Routledge Handbook of Medical Humanities. Routledge, 2020. 163-175.
  • “The Empowered Patient on a Historical-Rhetorical Model: 19th-Century Patent-Medicine Ads and the 21st-Century Health Subject.” health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness, and Medicine 24,5 (2020) 572-588.
  • “Sex, Drugs, and Rhetoric: The Case of Flibanserin for ‘Female Sexual Dysfunction.’” Social Studies of Science48, 4 (2018): 459-482.
  • “The Rhetoric of Female Sexual Dysfunction: Faux Feminism and the FDA. Canadian Medical Association Journal187, 12 (8 September 2015): 915-916.
  • “The View from Here and There: Objectivity and the Rhetoric of Breast Cancer.” In Flavia Padovani, Jonathan Tsou, and Alan Richardson, eds., Objectivity in Science: Approaches to Historical Epistemology. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. 211-226.
  • “Suffering and the Rhetoric of Care.” In Michael Hyde and James Herrick, eds., After the Genome: The Language of Our Biotechnological Future. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013. 219-234.
  • Blake Scott, Judy Z. Segal, and Lisa Keränen. “Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: Inventional Possibilities for Scholarship and Engaged Practice.” Poroi: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetoric Analysis and Invention. 9,1 (2013).
  • Breast Cancer and Its Narration: An Accidental Study.” Literature and Medicine30, 2 (2012): 292-318.
  • “The Sexualization of the Medical. Journal of Sex Research 49, 4 (2012): 269-278.
  • “What, in Addition to Drugs, Do Pharmaceutical Ads Sell?”: The Rhetoric of Pleasure in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Pharmaceuticals.” In Deborah Dysart-Gale and Joan Leach, eds. Rhetorical Questions of Health and Medicine. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2011. 9-32.
  • Miriam Solomon, Wm Young, Judy Segal and Stephanie Geiger. “Medication Adaptation Headache.” Cephalalgia31, 5 (2011): 515-517.

Judy Z. Segal

she/her/hers
Professor Emerita
Education

BA, McGill University | MA, PhD, University of British Columbia

About keyboard_arrow_down
Judy Z. Segal (she/her) specializes in Rhetoric(s) of Health and Medicine—and Science and Technology Studies more generally. Her work has taken up rhetorical elements in professional, institutional, and public discourse on pain, drugs, breast cancer, sex and desire, mental health, and aging. Her essays appear in rhetoric journals, interdisciplinary health and STS journals, and medical journals—and in essay collections across disciplines. She is author of Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine (2005), an establishing book for the field. Professor Segal has been a member of the President’s International Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Distinguished Scholar at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and a recipient of the Killam Teaching Prize. She is a member of the Advisory Panel on Medicine and Society for the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Publications keyboard_arrow_down

Selected Publications

  • “Afterword.” In Christine Garlough, Stuart J. Murray, and Kelly Happe, eds. Rhetorics of Care: Crisis, Communication, and Community. Leuven: Peeters Publishers (In press, 2026).
  • Alan W. Richardson and Judy Z. Segal. “Don’t Ask ‘Why?’” A Novel Approach to Vaccine Persuasion.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 196, 42 (9 December 2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.240428
  • “The Rhetoric of Depression: Listening to Listening to Prozac in a Pandemic.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine 6, 1 (2023): 9-35.
  • “The Rhetoric and Politics of American Ageism: Notes from a Pandemic.” In Martin Halliwell and Sophie A. Jones, eds., The Edinburgh Companion to the Politics of American Health. Edinburgh University Press, 2022. 476-491.
  • “Foreword.” In Lisa Melonçon et al, eds. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine As/Is. The Ohio State University Press, 2020. vii-xiii.
  • “Ageism and Rhetoric.” In Alan Bleakley, ed.  The Routledge Handbook of Medical Humanities. Routledge, 2020. 163-175.
  • “The Empowered Patient on a Historical-Rhetorical Model: 19th-Century Patent-Medicine Ads and the 21st-Century Health Subject.” health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness, and Medicine 24,5 (2020) 572-588.
  • “Sex, Drugs, and Rhetoric: The Case of Flibanserin for ‘Female Sexual Dysfunction.’” Social Studies of Science48, 4 (2018): 459-482.
  • “The Rhetoric of Female Sexual Dysfunction: Faux Feminism and the FDA. Canadian Medical Association Journal187, 12 (8 September 2015): 915-916.
  • “The View from Here and There: Objectivity and the Rhetoric of Breast Cancer.” In Flavia Padovani, Jonathan Tsou, and Alan Richardson, eds., Objectivity in Science: Approaches to Historical Epistemology. Dordrecht: Springer, 2015. 211-226.
  • “Suffering and the Rhetoric of Care.” In Michael Hyde and James Herrick, eds., After the Genome: The Language of Our Biotechnological Future. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013. 219-234.
  • Blake Scott, Judy Z. Segal, and Lisa Keränen. “Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: Inventional Possibilities for Scholarship and Engaged Practice.” Poroi: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetoric Analysis and Invention. 9,1 (2013).
  • Breast Cancer and Its Narration: An Accidental Study.” Literature and Medicine30, 2 (2012): 292-318.
  • “The Sexualization of the Medical. Journal of Sex Research 49, 4 (2012): 269-278.
  • “What, in Addition to Drugs, Do Pharmaceutical Ads Sell?”: The Rhetoric of Pleasure in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Pharmaceuticals.” In Deborah Dysart-Gale and Joan Leach, eds. Rhetorical Questions of Health and Medicine. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press, 2011. 9-32.
  • Miriam Solomon, Wm Young, Judy Segal and Stephanie Geiger. “Medication Adaptation Headache.” Cephalalgia31, 5 (2011): 515-517.