Joseph S. Osmundson (born 1983)[1] is an American biophysicist and writer. He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Biology at New York University. Osmundson is the author of various books exploring bodies, queerness, race, and geography.
Education
Osmundson has a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Biophysics from the Rockefeller University. His 2012 dissertation was titled rRNA Promoters as Targets for Transcription Factors: Structural and Functional Studies of PhERI and CarD. His doctoral advisor was Seth Darst.[2]
Career
Osmundson's research on protein structure and function has been published in scientific journals such as Cell[3] and PNAS.[4] He is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor of Biology at New York University.
Osmundson’s creative work on bodies, queerness, race, and geography has appeared, among others, in Medium,[5]The Village Voice,[6] the Los Angeles Review of Books,[7]Gawker,[8]Guernica,[9] the Kenyon Review,[10] the Lambda Literary Review,[11] and the Feminist Wire,[12] where he is an associate editor. His 2016 book Capsid: A Love Song won the POZ Award for best HIV writing (fiction/poetry) and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award,[13] and his second book, INSIDE/OUT, was published in January 2018. With fellow queer writers Dennis Norris II, Tommy Pico, and Fran Tirado, he co-hosts Food 4 Thot, a podcast "at the intersection of queerness and brownness,"[14] with subject matters ranging "from Beyoncé to Borges, politics to peen sizes, Nietzsche to 90s R&B."[15]
Osmundson's third book, Virology, was published in June 2022 by Norton.[16] The essay collection focusses on "the social and scientific impact of viruses through the lens of queer theory, race, capitalism, and the legacy of HIV/AIDS activism". The New York Times said, "Osmundson writes with the disarming voice of that teacher who makes science cool, even radical."[17]
In 2022, Time included Osmundson on their Time100 Next list of emerging leaders, citing Osmundson as, "instrumental in guiding New York City’s [mpox] vaccine distribution, helping implement a program that brings shots to places where people meet for sex and pushing for more inclusive eligibility criteria."[18]
