John Harley Warner PhD

Avalon Professor in the History of Medicine and Professor of American Studies and of History; Chair, History of Medicine

Departments & Organizations

Biography

John Harley Warner, an historian who focuses on the transnational history of medicine and science, received his Ph.D. in 1984 from Harvard University (History of Science), and from 1984-1986 was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London. In 1986 he joined the Yale faculty with a primary appointment in the School of Medicine, where he is now Avalon Professor and Chair of the Section of the History of Medicine with a fully split faculty appointment in the Department of History. His research interests include the cultural and social history of medicine in the 19th and 20th century, comparative history (particularly North American, British, and French medicine), and medical cultures since the late 18th century. He is especially interested in clinical practice, orthodox and alternative healing, the multiple meanings of scientific medicine, travel and cross-cultural exchange, tensions between the physician's identity as scientist and as healer, and the interactions among identity, narrative, and aesthetics in the grounding of modern medicine. He is a professor and core faculty member in the Yale University Program in the History of Medicine and Science.