London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

When people think about public health in the past, they often picture attempts to combat infectious disease, to clean up dirty environments and improve living conditions. As important as this work was, and continues to be, there is more to public health history than sewers and sanitation. 

In her inaugural lecture, Professor Alex Mold reflects on her historical research about topics as diverse as drug and alcohol use, patient consumerism, health education and sports sponsorship. These may seem like very different issues, but they are all part of ‘public health’ in its broadest sense. Alex will suggest that what unites these is a concern for publics and health, for people and their wellbeing. Public health history is not just about interventions, structures, and services, it is also about the people that make and live with them. In her lecture, Alex will focus on the people who matter – professionally and personally, in the past and in the present. 

The lecture will take place from 17:15 - 18:15, followed by a 1-hour in-person drinks reception in the Pumphandle Social.

Speaker

Professor Alex Mold

Alex Mold is Professor of Public Health History at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her work focuses on the history of public health in Britain during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.  She has published widely on the history of heroin addiction, the role of voluntary organisations in health, the emergence of patient-consumerism, and the place of the public in public health in post-war Britain. Alex is currently working as part of a team of researchers looking at the history of ‘addictive’ sports sponsorship in the UK. She is also Co-Head of the Doctoral College at LSHTM.

Event notices

• Please note that you can join this event in person or you can join the session remotely.
• Please note that the recording link will be listed on this page when available.