Health Histories

The Health Histories research cluster examines the social and cultural history of health and medicine.

Health medicine and society

Health Histories

Our research

What is ‘health’ and what did it mean to be ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ in the past? How have people’s responses to ill-health changed over time, place, and historical context? How does the history of health intersect with things like race, gender, class, sexual orientation, age, and other characteristics and identities?


This research group is interested in histories of health that take historical enquiry beyond histories of medicine or medical treatments towards understandings of health that are broad, diverse, and wide-ranging. Associated members research topics across historical periods, from the medieval to contemporary, and across global geographies and cultures

Discover our subject specialists who lead our research - from postgraduate research students to internationally-renowned academic staff.

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Explore our research projects directory to discover past and present research activity.

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News and events

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Join Dr Iona McCleery from the School of History as she presents 'Feast and Famine' at the Thackray Museum of Medicine together with Dr Jonny Geber from the University of Edinburgh.

More on Thackray Museum of Medicine Insights Lecture Series: Dr Iona McCleery
Michael Sadler and Baines Wing

The theme of the third annual international conference of the Military Welfare History Network (MWHN) will be 'Economies of Military Welfare: Conversations between Past and Present'.

More on Conference: Military Welfare History Network, 2024