Disease and the modern self: becoming autoimmune. This will be the first historical analysis of concepts of autoimmunity. A conceptual history of a disease category, the book will also incorporate patient experience, scientific ideas about the immunological 'self', and an examination of the connections and articulations of research laboratories and hospital clinics in the twentieth century.
The Cold War Obesity Crisis: Fatness, Public Health, and Medical Science in the United States, 1940-1970. In 1951 the US Public Health Service declared obesity, newly reinterpreted as an addictive disorder, to be the nation’s leading health problem. This project will be the first to study the course of this early obesity crisis, analysing the interaction between popular perception, biomedical science and health policy, all in the political and cultural context of postwar America. Research will e ....The Cold War Obesity Crisis: Fatness, Public Health, and Medical Science in the United States, 1940-1970. In 1951 the US Public Health Service declared obesity, newly reinterpreted as an addictive disorder, to be the nation’s leading health problem. This project will be the first to study the course of this early obesity crisis, analysing the interaction between popular perception, biomedical science and health policy, all in the political and cultural context of postwar America. Research will especially focus on the competing efforts of several biomedical disciplines and their scientific leaders to define the problem and shape responses to it. The goal is to understand the ways science and medicine related to social forces in the episode, and to derive lessons for today’s global obesity crisis.Read moreRead less
Tuberculosis in Southern Africa: the history of a pandemic. South Africa and the states which supply workers to the gold mines of Johannesburg today have the highest rates of pulmonary tuberculosis in the world. This project will explore the role of the gold mines in creating a pandemic of a disease which was not so long ago considered to be in permanent retreat.
Occupational health and social justice in South Africa. This project aims to study South African asbestos and gold miners’ political and legal struggles for social justice. It will explain how their class actions for occupational injury against employers have been possible, and explore the wider significance of the legal cases. The research will examine how disabled miners re-captured science from corporate influence and used the law in pursuing their claims. The resultant book and articles are ....Occupational health and social justice in South Africa. This project aims to study South African asbestos and gold miners’ political and legal struggles for social justice. It will explain how their class actions for occupational injury against employers have been possible, and explore the wider significance of the legal cases. The research will examine how disabled miners re-captured science from corporate influence and used the law in pursuing their claims. The resultant book and articles are expected to illuminate aspects of a regional occupational health crisis and provide evidence to improve working conditions and action for legal redress.Read moreRead less