News
Historicising Commercial Determinants of Health: Call for Papers
Historicising Commercial Determinants of Health: Call for Papers
A one-day workshop at the
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
15 April 2026
The commercial determinants of health (CDoH) is an emergent field, critically examining how corporate actors and their products have shaped health and policy. Whilst studies of CDoH have deep, contemporary salience, their historical antecedents have rarely been the focus of extensive scholarly inquiry. This is surprising, given that history is replete with examples of corporate actors placing profit and/or corporate interest over individual and collective health.
This one-day in-person workshop, hosted at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will engage with the rich history of CDoH. Bringing together scholars from across disciplines, and at all career stages, it will engage with case studies from across a variety of industries, in countries and contexts across the world. In doing so, we wish to draw together contributions which probe both the empirical and methodological contributions of historical research (broadly defined) to the study of CDoH, bringing these findings into dialogue with current health problems.
Please find more details here: Historicising Commercial Determinants of Health: Call for Papers.
Protecting Health and the Catholic Family: Catholic Women’s League and Preventive Medicine Clinics for Mothers and Infants in Belgium (1945–1975)
We’re delighted to share that Juliette, a former MA student to the Centre for the History of Medicine, has recently published an article in Social History of Medicine. The article, which she began writing during her time at Warwick and presented to colleagues at CHM, marks a significant achievement in her research journey.
Juliette will be continuing her work in Paris from November as part of a two-year Marie Curie Fellowship. We’re proud to have supported her during her time at Warwick and wish her all the best in this exciting next chapter!
Summary
This article examines a twofold specificity in circumstances that were brought about by the intervention of the Catholic Women’s League in the Belgian mother and infant welfare system between 1945 and 1975: the importance of religion and the central role of women volunteers in state-funded medical-social facilities. For the Women’s League, the infant clinics were a means of defending Catholic positions on the family and birth control on the ground, and of asserting its legitimacy to intervene in child protection policies. After 1945, the women who volunteered in the clinics took on apostolic missions, but also contributed to the medicalisation of children’s education. Protected by the Women’s League, they occupied rather unusual positions of authority. This article explores how the League succeeded in maintaining the presence of volunteers by creating new social services and missions when the medical and religious missions of clinics were changing in the early 1960s.
Traumatised Minds: Neurosis and Hysteria in Soviet Medicine and Culture, 1971-1953
The call for papers is out for Dr Anna Toropova's Cultures of Trauma Workshop, 8-9 May 2025. More information and to apply here.
She is also recruiting for a Research Fellow for a 2-year fixed term contract, starting 1 September 2025. Apply here
Find out more about the Traumatised Minds: Neurosis and Hysteria in Soviet Medicine and Culture, 1971-1953 research project here.