Caitlin E. McMahon, PhD, MPH, is a Project Director in the Division of Ethics in the Department of Medical Ethics & Humanities at Columbia University. She received her doctorate in Sociomedical Sciences and History at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. She started her research career working in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU located in historic Bellevue Hospital. Her dissertation research has focused on the historical evolution of the health consumer identity and the ways in which consumer rhetoric, and social, economic, and racial inequalities have informed debates over health insurance in the U.S. throughout the 20th century. More broadly, her research interests extend to the history of activism in health social movements, rights language and justice in health care access, public health policy, and public health ethics.