History of Medicine

Faculty

Faculty
The University has seven researchers whose primary research interest lies in the history of health and medicine. They include:
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Dr. Jim Alsop, Professor (History) - History of medical practice in the C18th Atlantic World

James Alsop is a specialist in the social history and the history of health and medical treatment in eighteenth-century England and the Atlantic world. He has been the recipient of several Wellcome Trust and Burroughs Wellcome research grants on various medical history topics. He is currently involved in several research projects, including the history of malaria treatment and the health of American civil war soldiers. He currently supervises three doctoral students pursuing Early Modern topics in the history of health and medicine.

Dr. Juanita de Barros, Associate Professor (History) - History of public health in the Caribbean

Juanita de Barros holds her Ph.D. from York University. Specializing in the history of slavery and post-emancipation societies in the Caribbean, she is the author of Order and Place in a Colonial City: Patterns of Struggle and Resistance in Georgetown, British Guiana, 1889-1924 (2002). Dr. De Barros' current research project focuses on public health in the post-emancipation Caribbean, and examines the role played by 'traditional' healers, medical auxiliaries and formally-trained Afro and Indo-creole doctors in creating and implementing a creole health system in the Caribbean.

Dr. Nancy Bouchier, Associate Professor (Kinesiology) - History of physical culture and sports medicine

Nancy Bouchier’s teaching and research involve the historical and socio-cultural aspects of sport and physical activity. The undergraduate courses that she teaches include, The History and Philosophy of Kinesiology (a core course), The History of Physical Culture and Sports Medicine (available for History credit), and Historical Interpretations of Sport and Physical Activity. They examine the social and cultural dimensions of how people in the past have engaged in organized physical activities, and in how, historically, exercise has been an important part of both social life and medical practice in the western world.

Her research focuses particularly on issues of gender, social class, the environment, and locality in the history of sport and physical activity. She is also broadly interested in the relationship between sport and hegemony. With Ken Cruikshank, she is working on a SSHRCC-funded book examining the history of environment, the state, and recreation on the Burlington Bay. She hasrecently been nominated for her latest book: "".

		Dr. Ann Herring, Professor (Anthropology) - History of infectious diseases; History of Amerindian health at time of Contact Ann Herring is a physical anthropologist whose primary research interests center on the anthropology of infectious disease. This involves studying the biosocial circumstances that give rise to epidemics and facilitate their spread from place to place, as well as the biosocial processes that ensue from the disease experience. She is interested in the way populations and societies – past and present – are transformed by epidemics and in the ways in which patterns of health and disease change through time. Her work straddles the Department's strengths in medical anthropology, human biology, ethnohistory and the anthropology of death.
Much of her research focuses on the determinants of health in Canada, with a particular emphasis on Aboriginal health. Dr. Herring’s current projects examine 19th and 20th century epidemics (especially influenza and tuberculosis), nutrition, and environmental health. She collaborates on research on the 1918 influenza pandemic, the histories of syphilis and tuberculosis, and on a multidisciplinary neighbourhood study of the determinants of health in Hamilton (12 researchers, 7 disciplines).

Dr. Janet Padiak, Assistant Professor (Anthropology)-history of suicide & mortality regimes in C20th

Janet Padiak is a biological anthropologist currently investigating the changes in morbidity (illness episodes) during the 19th century mortality decline, a transition that resulted in the transformation of human health. There has been much debate on the causes of the decline of mortality during this time period, and by ascertaining whether morbidity also declined during this time, her work can positively contribute to this important question. Other interests include the effects of colonialism on health, and she has published papers on infant mortality, suicide and cause-of-death analysis. Works in progress include an investigation into maternal mortality in Gibraltar during the 19th century, the 19th century hospital as an institution of colonial control and the role of women in the 19th century British army.

Dr. Charles Roland, Hannah Professor Emeritus (Family Practice) - History of the medical profession in Canada; History of prisoners of war in C20th

McMaster University has a long history of teaching and research in the history of health and medicine. Through generous funding from Associated Medical Services Inc., McMaster has supported, from 1977, the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine. The Chair was held from 1977-1999 by Dr. Charles Roland, returning to Canada from Mayo Medical School and the Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Roland has had a distinguished career publishing dozens of scholarly articles in the history of medicine. He is best known for his work on Sir William Osler, for compiling important reference material on the history of Canadian medicine and, more recently, for his two latest books on the medical experience of prisoners of war in the Far East and Europe during the Second World War. In 1999, Dr. Roland retired and continues an active career in medical history as the Hannah Professor Emeritus in the History of Medicine.

Dr. Mary Tremblay, Associate Professor (Rehab Sciences) - History of disability in C20th

Mary Tremblay is an Associate Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University and a research associate in History of Medicine. Her specific areas of research are in the history of disability and rehabilitation with current research projects on spinal cord injury rehabilitation; war and disability in the twentieth century; aging with a pre-existing disability; and human rights and disability.

Dr. David Wright, Hannah Chair & Associate Professor (Psych/History) - History of mental health in C19th; History of medical immigration, post WWII

David is the Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine, a joint appointment between the Department of History and the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences. He teaches modern British history and the social history of health & medicine. He has published widely on the history of psychiatry and is Secretary/Treasurer of the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine. He is currently researching psychiatric morbidity and the rise of the asylum in nineteenth-century Ontario.