Joshua Dunsby is interested in how new biomedical knowledge and technologies are developed, received, and diffused, and particularly in how they are incorporated into policy.

Much of his research has analyzed the understanding and regulation of environmental health problems, especially air pollution and secondhand smoke, and the surrounding controversies about health risks. He has a strong qualitative research background and has published in the leading sociology of science journals. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology with a concentration in Science Studies from the University of California, San Diego. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco he completed training in health policy and health services research. He is currently finishing a study of the ways in which legislators use scientific evidence in the policy process.