Writing Doctors: Representation and Medical Personality ca.1660-1832

Writing Doctors is a three-year research project run by members of the English group at the University of Northumbria. It is funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Its aim is to examine the implications for British culture, medicine, literature and writing of all kinds of the change in the language of medical publication from Latin to English, a change that impacted on gender roles in relation to the medical world and the nature of publishing across a wide spectrum.

For more information about the project, its personnel, anticipated outcomes and publications and the international conference scheduled for summer 2020 please follow the links within this website or contact us directly. You may also access our social media accounts.

UPDATE 2023

We are delighted to announce that our PhD studentship holder, Laurence Sullivan, passed his doctoral viva with flying colours on Friday 20th January, with his thesis: "‘Every Woman Her Own Physician’: Literary Portrayals of Lay Women Medical Practitioners on the Page and Stage in Eighteenth-Century Britain". Our huge congratulations to Laurence, and our thanks to his examiners.

Celebratory lunch for Dr Laurence: from the left - Dr Claudine Van Hensbergen (internal examiner), Dr Laurence Sullivan, Dr Noelle Duckmann Gallagher (external examiner), Professor Allan Ingram (supervisor), Professor Clark Lawlor (supervisor). Missing: Dr Ashleigh Blackwood (supervisor).