Director, Center for the History of Medicine, Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine &

Assistant/Associate Professor of the History of Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School

 

This position is a joint appointment in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine and the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. An adjunct appointment in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard University may also be possible.

 

The Countway Library, one of the world’s largest medical libraries, serves the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Boston Medical Library and the Massachusetts Medical Society. The Library holds more than 630,000 volumes, subscribes to 3,500 current journal titles and houses over 10,000 non-current biomedical journal titles. The library also houses one of the world's leading medical history collections, and provides access to many electronic information resources. It hosts an archives and records management program for the schools of the Harvard medical area, and the Warren Anatomical Museum.

 

This position will have essential responsibility for directing the Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library.  The goal of the Center for the History of Medicine at the Countway Library is to promote historical scholarship in the history of the health sciences through the collection, preservation, and scholarly use of books, manuscripts, and other historical artifacts of medical science.  The Center supports Harvard’s active medical, undergraduate, and graduate academic programs in the history of medicine.

 

Additionally, this position will have research and teaching responsibilities at Harvard Medical School through the Program in the History of Medicine in the Department of Social Medicine. The Department of Social Medicine is an interdisciplinary basic science department of Harvard Medical School. Its faculty of anthropologists, sociologists, historians, ethicists, social policy specialists, and clinicians teach and conduct research about the social, cultural and moral aspects of illness and health care, with a special emphasis on reducing health disparities and improving the quality of medical care. The Department has strong academic programs of research and training in the social sciences basic to medicine - medical anthropology, the history of medicine, and medical ethics. The goal of the Social Medicine curriculum at HMS is to provide students with the intellectual and analytic resources to recognize and respond to key social, cultural and ethical dilemmas in contemporary medicine. Faculty members develop basic social science concepts and conduct research to advance our understanding of social, cultural and historical dimensions of health, illness, and medical care. 

 

Candidates are expected to hold an MD or PhD degree in a relevant field and are expected to have demonstrated teaching and research experience. The successful candidate will have the ability to conduct significant independent scientific inquiry, have broad knowledge of the history of medicine, and have experience in the collection, preservation, and use of primary published and archival materials in the history of medicine.  Experience in administrative planning, fund-raising, and public programming is highly desirable. 

 

Letters of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names of three references should be sent by April 1, 2006 to: [log in to unmask]

 

Harvard University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.