Richard McKay

I have always wondered about this too.

UPCOMING SSHM EVENTS SSHM Mid-Career Writing Retreat funded by Wellcome Friday 9th and Monday 12th January 2026 10am-5.30pm GMT Deadline for applications: 17 December 2025 (23:59 GMT) Led by Professor Rowena Murra…

✨SSHM Mid-Career Online Writing Retreat✨ funded by Wellcome
Over 2 days: Friday 9th and Monday 12th January 2026
10am-5.30pm GMT
This event is for SSHM members.
To sign up and for more details see website

Deadline for sign-up: 17 December 2025 (23:59 GMT)
#histmed

Though tragic and shocking, this riveting book also offers a message of hope by highlighting the activists who fought against institutional apathy and widespread stigma.

With clarity, nuance, and remarkable humanity, Alexander exposes the struggles to counter the transmission of HIV, disinformation, and fear during the Soviet Union’s twilight years.

Manchester University Press - AIDS in Soviet Russia AIDS in Soviet Russia - Browse and buy the Hardcover edition of AIDS in Soviet Russia by Rustam Alexander

This World AIDS Day, I’d like to highlight a forthcoming new book by Rustam Alexander, AIDS in Soviet Russia: A story of deception, despair and hope (Manchester University Press, February 2026). manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526185327/ #histmed #skystorians #worldaidsday

I’ve heard of the practice but not by this name. I don’t know whether Amazon still bundles free Audible versions of physical books purchased, but I’m guessing it was in part responding to a fairly common request from readers wanting both formats.

Society for the Social History of Medicine | LinkedIn Society for the Social History of Medicine | 8 followers on LinkedIn. SSHM promotes interdisciplinary approaches to the history of health and medicine. Publishes a journal and book series. | A members...

On LinkedIn as well as Bluesky?
Why not follow SSHM's new LinkedIn page too!
#histmed #histSTM

Alongside Simon, Dr Bill Bynum of the Wellcome Institute will detail his collaborative work with Roy and cast light on Roy’s major contributions to medical history research and teaching.

Hosted by the Christ's College Medical Alumni Association, join Professor Sir Simon Schama (m. 1963) as he reflects on his undergraduate and early academic training alongside Roy Porter at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

"The Greatest Medical Historian of his Generation" – Roy Porter Remembered An online event reflecting on the life and legacy of medical historian Roy Porter, hosted by CCMAA and featuring Simon Schama and Bill Bynum

Upcoming Public Webinar:
“Roy Porter Remembered”

Hosted by the Christ's College Medical Alumni Association

6-7 pm, Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Register for free at royporterccmaa.eventbrite.co.uk

SSHM 2026: In/Out Location: University of Leeds Dates: 30 June to 3 July 2026 Submission Deadline: 5.00pm (GMT) 11th January 2026 Conference Co-Convenors: Dr Alexia Moncrieff & Dr Katherine Rawling Conference Co…

The 2026 SSHM Conference will be @universityofleeds.bsky.social. The theme will be In/Out and we are inviting papers that consider experiences of being in and/or out of health or health care in any period or geographical location. #HistMed #HistSTM
sshm.org/sshm-2026/

SSHM AGM & The SSHM Lecture 2025 Monday 6 October [Online]  4:00 – 5:30pm (UK time)  As required, the Society gives notice to members that the Annual General Meeting to formally accept the accounts for 2024 and for…

Did I mention this?

🚨Online today, 6 Oct, 4-5:30pm BST. Still time for free registration!🚨

For The SSHM Lecture 2025, Prof. Jeremy Greene will be presenting 'Wasted medicines & medical wastes: Notes from the trash-heap of medical history'

#histmed #histSTM #skystorians 🗃

sshm.org/sshm-agm/

Image illustrating the three keynote speakers in attendance, Richard McKay, Kevin Kareem Brooks, and Leon Davis.

Delighted to be invited to co-present today’s keynote to the 5th annual Rise Up conference, with Kevin Kareem Brooks, Leon “Struggle” Davis, and the voice of our team member Reginald T. Qualls. Our title was “Unearthing Carceral Sickness through the Power of Transformative History.” #RiseUp2025

📣Exciting News 📣
Dates & host institution for the SSHM Biennial Conference #SSHM2026 are confirmed!
Save the Date in your planners 📅
Theme and CFPs to follow later
#histmed #medhumanities #histSTM

A hand holding a thick paperback book, which has a blue cover with the word "HARM" written in black letters crossed out with a red line repeated as a motif. The title is DO LESS HARM: ETHICAL QUESTIONS FOR HEALTH HISTORIANS edited by Courtney Thompson and Kylie Smith.

Came home to the best gift ever - a copy of my new book, edited with @drkyliesmith.bsky.social. This book is the culmination of years of fantastic conversations with some brilliant scholars, and I'm so thrilled to finally hold it in my hands. I might be prouder of this than my actual monograph. 1/

🤣🤣🤣

Really happy to see that this special issue on transnational histories of HIV/AIDS activism is out in the world. Thanks so much to @npapadogian.bsky.social and @somakbiswas.bsky.social for all their hard work bringing it together! #histmed [1/2]

muse.jhu.edu/issue/55146

Front cover of the journal Social History of Medicine published by Oxford University Press. Purple cover with white text.

The logo for the Society for the Social History of Medicine - a purple background with the central design of letters SSHM a lighter shade of purple.

✨Join the team ✨ The Society's peer reviewed journal Social History of Medicine published by @oxfordacademic.bsky.social has a vacancy for a co-editor.
Deadline for applications 27 June 2025
Further details available at sshm.org/notices/
#histmed #skystorians

our wonderful colleagues who took part in our Test, Trace, Trust? project and whose ideas shaped this work indelibly: Dr Alexandra Albert, Dr Stephanie Hare, and Dr Yewande Okuleye; and our project’s principal investigator, Dr Freya Jephcott.

My co-author Dr @alexahagerty.bsky.social and I wish to thank our colleagues at the London Borough of Hackney, especially Dr Sandra Husbands and Dr Andrew Trathen;
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💡 National outbreak management efforts should be led by people with expertise in public health and knowledge of local authorities.
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💡 Future responses should prioritise a “relational-reciprocal” model of contact tracing which emphasises interpersonal trust and bundles services such as food and prescription deliveries.
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Our key findings:

💡 Contact tracing is a complex relational practice, not reducible to simply collecting data. Beware anyone who suggests a digital app can take care of this vital public health work.
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Contacts are Community How direct engagement with residents helped Hackney tackle COVID-19 - and what this means for local pandemic preparedness.

Our visual report, with some wonderful illustrations by Sophia Luu is now available.

www.cshss.cam.ac.uk/research/res...
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We shadowed a local authority’s public health team as their contact tracers worked hard to keep residents safe - at times together with and at times in tension with the efforts of NHS Test and Trace.
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By contrast, starting from the first UK-wide lockdown in Spring 2020, I spent years with colleagues investigating the merits of local, community-based contact tracing.
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The government’s public accounts committee eventually found that NHS Test and Trace did not meet its main objective of interrupting chains of COVID-19 transmission.
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During the pandemic, the UK government spent billions of pounds to build NHS Test and Trace, a hugely expensive and highly centralised system for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.
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This week’s UK COVID-19 inquiry hearings are investigating the role of test, trace, and isolate - a vital public health practice for responding to infections like COVID-19.

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YouTube video by PfizerUK Before the Breakthrough: Memories from a Pre-antibiotic Era

Kudos to PfizerUK for working to raise awareness of the growing risks of antimicrobial resistance. They interviewed three older members of the public about their memories of a time before antibiotics. I was happy to help them draw the historical threads together.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qJi...