I am an Associate Research Fellow in the Centre for Medical History at the University of Exeter, joining the team in April 2014.
My interests in the project relate to the ‘bodies in balance’ strand, and I will consider the manner in which changing political, economic and cultural contexts have shaped therapeutic approaches to diabetes mellitus in twentieth- and twenty-first century Britain. In particular, I am interested in how ideas and practices for maintaining long-term metabolic balance have been invested with shifting class, gender and ethnic norms since the 1920s, and how patients reinterpreted professional instructions in light of their own circumstances and priorities.
Prior to my post at Exeter, I gained my PhD at the University of Warwick (2010-14), investigating the connections between the development of new systems of disease management in diabetes care, and the emergence of medical management in twentieth-century British clinical and public health medicine. The current project thus switches my focus from the changing positions of professionals in health governance, to transformations in strategies for governing patients over the past 100 years. During my PhD, I also wrote a number of health memos for the Industry and Parliamentary Trust (2011-12), and undertook a policy internship with the Scottish Government (2012). Building on these experiences, I hope my current research will engage historians, clinicians and policy-makers alike, and I will be working with other members of the projects to develop projects that take our work to broader audiences.