Monir Moniruzzaman

Monir Moniruzzaman (Ph.D., University of Toronto) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University. His research examines human organ trafficking, with a particular focus on the medical violence inflicted upon the malnourished bodies of marginalized populations in Bangladesh. Drawing on challenging ethnographic fieldwork, spanning more than a decade, his scholarship demonstrates that organ trade, i.e., buying or selling living kidneys and liver lobes is profoundly unethical as it result in bioviolence, exploitation, and suffering for the poor.

Monir has published in leading journals, including the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and Human Organization, and has contributed book chapters to edited volumes published by prominent presses, such as the School of Advanced Research, Wiley-Blackwell, and Springer. His research has been supported by major funding agencies, including the US National Science Foundation, Center for Advanced Studies of International Development, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

In recognition of his expertise, Monir has testified before the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Sciences, US Congress Human Rights Commission, and US Senate Foreign Relation Committee. His work has garnered international media attention, with more than one hundred interviews published in outlets such as AFP, The Atlantic, BBC, and The Globe and Mail, and broadcast on ABC, HBO, NPR, and Voice of America, among others. He has served as an advisory member or independent expert at the World Health Organization, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, and European Society for Organ Transplantation.