apothecaries lecturer joins bsms

‘History is not by definition ancient – it includes what happened yesterday. This medical school is making history and we should celebrate that.’

Hilary Morris, the new Apothecaries Lecturer at BSMS, taught at Birmingham for three years before moving here. She had been undertaking postgraduate studies in history when her mentor Asa Briggs inspired her to study the history of medicine. After two years learning about everything from gout-ridden dinosaurs to present day politics, she was awarded her Diploma in the History of Medicine by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries.

Despite its ancient title, the Society is known for its forward thinking, being the first, for example, to admit women doctors. It is funding the position of Apothecaries Lecturer at BSMS and other medical schools, providing flexible courses to meet the schools’ needs.

Hilary’s take on the subject is to explore the implications of history for every aspect of medicine. ‘It’s important that tutors encourage this awareness in students and doctors. Half an hour on the history of vaccination, for example, shows us that all the present controversies are there in the past, while a look at the concerns of medical students in the 1850s makes it clear that today’s worries are nothing new. The boundaries of professions within medicine are still shifting, and to plan for the future we need to understand how medicine has been compartmentalised in the past. Knowing about the past can help us find a path through all these issues, and make us consciously heighten our expectations.

‘It’s a passion for me – I didn’t want to lock myself in archives, but be a portal for passing on that interest to the next generation. On this course you bring in cultural awareness, and a global perspective. It dismisses any preconceptions such as Europe standing alone in medical developments, giving students instead an international outlook on the subject. Most of all, history is an exciting tool for thinking, enhancing analytical skills without impinging on the clinical.’

The newly established BSMS History of Medicine Society has just held its first meeting. Its 70 student members hope to visit various sites and listen to speakers on topics ranging from army medicine to childbirth, so Hilary will have plenty to keep her busy. As well as teaching in the Education faculty of the University of Brighton, she is working on course modules, seminars and talks and researching her special interest, the ways in which war promotes medical advances such as penicillin. ‘I’m looking forward to continuing my own research in such a prestigious medical school’, Hilary concludes.