History of Medicine Research Group

The history of medicine is a well established field of research in the History Department with two main areas of investigation: early modern medicine in Continental Europe and nineteenth-century politics of public health in Britain. Research has been funded in many ways by the Wellcome Trust, including via several archival and conference grants and a University Award held by Silvia De Renzi.

Silvia De Renzi and Ole Grell share an interest in the history of early modern medical careers and education, and the construction of medical knowledge. Their common chronological focus—1550-1750—and their different geographical foci—Italy and Northern Europe—allow for an important comparative perspective. Among the topics of current research are the relationships between medicine, religion and natural philosophy and the political dimension of medical competence, including the emergence of medical expert witnessing.

Deborah Brunton is currently researching the history of public health in nineteenth-century Scotland; she is interested in setting it in the broader context of civic growth and development.

Helen King, who is a member of the Department of Classical Studies, has a specific interest in the history of medicine.

Events

18 June 2015

Carolin Schmitz (Instituto de Historia de la Medicina y de la Ciencia "López Piñero", University of Valencia)
‘Crossing healing spaces: the sick and their mobility in early modern Spain’

Carolin is our visiting PhD student in history and she works on health care in early modern Spain. She is using trial records to recover the perceptions and actions taken by sick people seeking help and care.

Venue: Open University Milton Keynes Campus, Faculty of Arts, Meeting Room 11, Wilson A building. Time: 2.00 pm

Recent workshops

Organised by Ole Grell, Andrew Cunningham (Cambridge University) and Jon Arrizabalaga (CSIC), an international conference was held in Barcelona on 25–27 September 2014 on ‘Medicine and Poisons in European History’. The conference programme is available online (PDF, 169 KB).

Organised by Ole Grell and Carsten Selch Jensen (University of Copenhagen), a workshop entitled Religion, natural philosophy, and medicine in post-Reformation Scandinavia was held at the University of Copenhagen on 19 April 2013. The workshop programme is available online (PDF, 54 KB).

A workshop series showcasing research in the history of medicine has been organized yearly by Silvia De Renzi at The Open University in London. Recent events include:

‘Patients’ control or practitioners’ authority? Revisiting the early modern medical encounter’ (4 July 2012). Here is the programme.

'Bodies for Knowledge: Perspectives on Anatomy, 1600-1900' (20 June 2011). Here is the programme.

‘Healing sites, public health and medical therapies’ (12 July 2010). Here is the programme. The workshops are regularly attended by Associate Lecturers actively researching in the history of medicine.

Doctoral research

Jane Berney has recently been awarded a PhD for her thesis on the contagious diseases ordinances in nineteenth-century Hong Kong (supervised by Deborah Brunton and Karl Hack). Yvonne Fisher’s research is on the medicalization of the coroner's inquest in nineteenth-century London (supervised by Deborah Brunton and Silvia De Renzi).