Monir Moniruzzaman (Ph.D. U of Toronto) is a medical anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University.

Monir’s research centers on human organ trafficking, focusing on the bioviolence against malnourished bodies of marginalized populations. Based on challenging ethnographic fieldwork, spanning more than a decade, his research examines how organ buyers deceived Bangladeshi poor into selling their body parts. In the end, these sellers were only partially paid, and their suffering was extreme. In the post-vending period, sellers’ health, economic, and social conditions significantly deteriorated, yet none of them received the promised post-operative care—not even one appointment. Monir concludes that organ commerce constitutes profound bioviolence against the poor, at the cost of severe suffering to them.

Monir’s research has been recognized within the academic communities and broader publics. His articles have been published in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, Ethos, and by the School of American research. He has been invited to present his research at the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Science, US Congress Human Rights Commission, and US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Prior joining to Michigan State University, Monir served as assistant professor at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh, awarded two doctoral fellowships at the University of Toronto, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley.