CAREER: History of Science at the Interface of Biomedical and Environmental Concerns

University Of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports a research CAREER project that occurs at the juncture of three distinct fields: middle east studies, history of medicine, and environmental history. The locus of the study are health issues that specifically concern the liver. The project straddles historical and contemporary public health concerns through a focus on government environmental interventions initially causing the development of schistosomiasis, which leads to fibrosis of the liver, and later interventions responding to this health issue. She also plans to consider the more recent situation with regards to Hepatitis-C, and the politics of access to anti-Hep C medications. The PI plans to support three graduate students, who will be recruited to engage in history of science projects that are complementary to her own project. The research will use archival research and interviews to conduct her study. She will begin by focusing on changes in agricultural practices in the 19th century; specifically, the movement to perennial irrigation practices. This ecological transformation in turn lead to changes that affected the health of those who lived and labored in rural communities; it facilitated the spread of schistosomiasis. The PI will then transition forward to study developments that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s including global medical exchanges concerning schistosomiasis, and the implementation of public health policies to treat schistosomiasis. The third period focuses on is the late 1980s, when Hepatitis C becomes a vital public health. She brings this in to the contemporary moment, and the politics surrounding access to anti-Hep C medications. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.