
Dedicated to research and teaching in the history of disease, healthcare, and medical science

The Program in the History of Medicine has been dedicated to research and teaching in the history of disease, healthcare, and medical science. Founded in 1967, the Program is located in the Medical School and the Department of Surgery. The Program gives students a historical perspective on the role of health, medicine, and disease in society today. By equipping students with the tools to analyze textual, visual, and statistical materials relating to the history of medicine, students learn to think critically about historical and contemporary health issues across the globe.

Our faculty have a wide variety of research and teaching interests. We teach courses ranging from the history of healthcare, medicine, and society in the premodern and modern eras, the history of women, gender, and medicine, technology and medicine in modern America, medical humanities and literature, the history of medicine and diseases in East Asia, and demography, data, and healthcare.
We offer:
- Graduate work leading to MA and Ph.D. degrees in the Program in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
- Undergraduate elective courses and an undergraduate minor
- Historical Segments in the Medical School Curriculum
- An annual lecture series that provides a forum for the newest work of scholars in our discipline.